Growing prevalence of oral sex may be leading to an increased incidence of throat cancer, according to a new study. In the study, a virus called human papillomavirus (HPV), contracted through oral sex, was found to be a much stronger risk factor than tobacco or alcohol use. With 6,000 cases per year and an annual increase of up to 10% in men younger than 60, some researchers believe that the HPV-linked throat cancers could overtake cervical cancer in the next decade.
"It’s almost a new disease, in a sense. It’s now becoming a dominant sub-type of the disease that we see in our clinic," the Age.com.au quoted Dr Ezra Cohen, an oncologist at the University of Chicago Medical Centre, as saying.
The HPV infections likely took root decades ago as the Baby Boomers were reaching adulthood, and only now are spurring a rise in throat cancer cases. Experts suspect that the reason behind the increase is the changes in sexual practices that emerged in the 1960s and ’70s.
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