Going Down on Women Can Cause Throat Cancer – Doctors Warn
Oral sex does not directly cause throat cancer, but it can spread HPV. HPV can cause pre-cancerous changes in cells that may lead to throat cancer later on. Smoking and alcohol consumption further increase the risk that an HPV infection will become cancerous.
According to Hisham Mehanna, PhD Licking Women Can Cause Throat Cancer to men who involve themselves in it. She added that the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), that causes cervical cancer can also cause cancer of the penis known medically as penile cancer as well as throat cancer.
A recent op-ed points to oral sex as the leading risk factor for throat cancer.
The claim came from Hisham Mehanna, PhD, a professor at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham, in England. His op-ed published in The Conversation in April.
Oral sex does not directly cause throat cancer, but it can spread HPV. HPV can cause pre-cancerous changes in cells that may lead to throat cancer later on. Smoking and alcohol consumption further increase the risk that an HPV infection will become cancerous
Actor Michael Douglas made headlines after telling The Guardian that his throat cancer may have been caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) transmitted through oral sex.
The link between oral sex, HPV and cancer has been receiving more attention in recent years.
HPV is a virus that’s transmitted through sexual contact – genital or oral. There are more than 40 types, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and approximately 79 million Americans are currently infected. Most people have no symptoms.
Facts About Throat Cancer And Oral Sex
- An op-ed, published in April in The Conversation, pointed to oral sex as the leading risk factor for throat cancer.
- The leading risk factor for all throat cancer in most developed countries is human papillomavirus (HPV), which can be transmitted via oral sex.
- Other risk factors of throat cancer include tobacco and alcohol use, excess body weight, and advanced age.1
How HPV Cause Throat Cancer?
- About 10% of men and 3% of women in the U.S. have oral HPV.3 Most people who contract the infection clear it within a few years, said Dr. Imanguli. However, it can spark a process that leads to the development of cancer in some people.
- “Oral sex can cause exposure of the back of the throat—oropharynx—to high-risk/cancer-associated subtypes of HPV,” said Dr. Gross. “The most common type associated with this is HPV-16, and the lymph tissue in the back of the throat can develop cancer over time as a result of this infection.”
- The development of cancer isn’t something that happens overnight, though. “HPV, when transmitted, can live dormant in cells for many years while the host immune system can keep it in check,” Electra Paskett, PhD, a professor and cancer prevention and control expert at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, told Health. “Years later, the virus can wake and integrate into the cell’s DNA, causing the cells to mutate and develop into cancer.”
- This explains in part why oropharyngeal cancer is rising among older people. “They contracted the virus early in life and then it awakes and develops into cancer,” she said.
