oropharyngeal cancer and oral sex

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature,....
(Helen Keller)

The quote seems true even in a personal life! Oropharyngeal cancer showed strong association with high-risk sexual behaviors, people having more than 5 oral-sex partners during lifetime and especially among partners having HPV-16 and other serotypes positive status, results recently published in NEJM. A Case-control study involving newly diagnosed oropharyngeal cancer and 200 control patients without cancer to evaluate associations between HPV infection and oropharyngeal cancer.

The degree of association increased with the number of vaginal-sex and oral-sex partners. Since this is a single study with fairly ok sample size, cause-and-effect association can not be established; but there is a strong correlation between oropharyngeal cancer and oral HPV infection, apart from use of alcohol and tobacco as an independent risk factors. Apart from oro-genital sex, even mouth-to-mouth direct contact may be linked to increase risk of acquiring oral HPV infection and subsequently oropharyngeal cancer.

Authors suggest public health implication of this study by expecting rise in oropharyngeal cancer cases because of increase oral sex practices behavior among adoloscents. Recently launched HPV vaccine (Gardasil, Merck Inc.), now under US national immunization schedule for girls between 11 to 12 years (extended 9-26 years age) can be a rational approach to prevent oral HPV infection and decreasing cancer risk in boys too. However, more clinical studies are demanded before arriving at conclusion to implement HPV vaccination among boys.

Reference:
1. D'Souza G et al. | Case–Control Study of Human Papillomavirus and Oropharyngeal Cancer | N Engl J Med 2007(10 May);356:1944-1956 (free access)
2. Oral Sex Can Add to HPV Cancer Risk | Time magazine
--

Helen Keller says to dare and face the outright danger. However, there are few exceptions prudent followers should know about. Play safe:-)