Men who perform oral sex on women 'more at risk of mouth and throat cancers'

Conclusion This study uses a large amount of national data to give us an idea about which groups of people have the greatest risk of carrying potentially cancer-causing oral HPV . But while oral HPV may increase people's risk of mouth and throat cancers, the actual number who would go on to develop cancer is extremely small. This study has limitations, which are worth bearing in mind: It only looked at whether people had oral HPV at a single point in time. This makes it difficult to know at what point they became infected and how much this could be down to other risk factors such as smoking, oral sex and number of partners. The researchers were only able to make predictions about likelihood of going on to develop cancer once infected. We cannot put a definite number to this risk. The study only looked at US data. Though risk of HPV infection and of mouth and throat cancer is likely to be similar, we cannot directly apply these findings to the UK. It is always sensible to practise safe sex to reduce your risk of getting a sexually transmitted infection. If you are concerned about getting HPV or any other type of STIs through oral sex, use a condom or dental dam. A vaccine against some strains of HPV is offered to girls aged 12 to 13 as part of the NHS routine vaccination schedule. Currently, any males wanting the vaccine will have to pay for it. The course of three injections costs around £400 at the time of writing. Links To The Headlines Giving 5 or more women oral s...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Cancer Source Type: news