Posted on 12/12/2002 8:13:17 AM PST by Sangamon Kid
Oral sex linked to cancer of the mouth
By Sarah-Kate Templeton
New research to be published next year will provide powerful evidence that oral sex can cause mouth cancer.
Doctors who first suggested a form of mouth cancer could be linked to the same sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer have found more data to back their controversial theory. Two years ago, the group from Johns Hopkins University in the US published a paper suggesting the human papilloma virus (HPV), the cause of most cervical cancer, can also cause mouth cancer.
A new study, to be published in six months' time, will confirm this research, according to Dr Maura Gillison, an oncologist and member of the Johns Hopkins group. The news comes as Scottish mouth cancer experts are calling for research to be done here into the suspected link with oral sex.
David Soutar, president of the British Association of Head and Neck Oncologists, said: 'We were involved in a pilot study which suggested that this is certainly something that we should look into.
'It should be investigated further, particularly in people who don't have any of the risk factors such as smoking and drinking.
'One of the things that has interested me over the past 15 years is the increase in the number of women with oral cancer. It used to be five men to one woman but it is now about two men to one woman. What we do not know is whether this is all down to smoking.
'When I see the increase in women with oral cancer I think oral sex has to be one of the causes. We also have to find out why the age group suffering from oral cancer is becoming younger. Ideally, we would want to look at the under-45s.'
Mr Soutar, a consultant plastic surgeon at Canniesburn Hospital and the Nuffield Hospital, both in Glasgow, says it is difficult to find people willing to discuss their sexual behaviour, but says we have to consider the possibility sexually transmitted viruses are one of the causes.
Finding out whether HPV is a cause of mouth cancer is all the more pressing now that new treatments are being developed to fight cervical cancer. A vaccine to stop cervical cancer could become available within five years and doctors believe a similar vaccine could protect against some oral cancers.
The vaccine works by boosting the immune system against strains of HPV. The vaccine against cervical cancer will be targeted at girls of about 12 or 13, before they become sexually active and vulnerable to HPV.
But Soutar warns that, unlike cervical cancer where most forms of the disease are caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted virus could only be responsible for less than 20% of mouth cancer cases. He said targeting a vaccine would therefore be more difficult.
'If we could identify the sub-group this would be of benefit. We know smoking and drinking is probably the cause in 80% of cases so we couldn't use it in the same way as the vaccine against cervical cancer. This would only be a small proportion of those who have oral cancer.'
In the past decade in Scotland there has been an almost 50% increase in oral cancer among under-45s, and in the last 40 years a fourfold increase in younger patients suffering from it. Oral cancer affects 3000 people in the UK each year and the problem is worse north of the border.
www.omfsaboutface.co.uk/ aware.htm
www.cancerresearchuk.org
Oh please, it's definitely sex.
I have a good dentist, a good gynecologist, a good brain, a good life ahead of me, and an extremely good lover---so your advice, while certainly appreciated (and in the same spirit it was given, too :D), is kinda superfluous.
(and you still didn't answer my question)
Rumor has it San Francisco bathhouse "labs" are up and running 24/7. Hats are optional...
It is obvious, like many, you do little long term planning .....trading that for the short term gain (pleasure)..that is your choice..
As I told my kids we live in a pay me now or pay me later world .....so I would not be too sure about the "good life " ahead of you. it does not seem you are doing much to asure it other than dream
This article was intended for women just like you that think illness like cancer of the mouth and infertility are someone elses problem. I hope for your sake they are
I happen to agree with you...
Of course some of this "enlightened" crowd will be insulted and accuse you and I of prudism and being killjoys, thus ruining their "good time."
aint that the truth...Let those with ears hear and the others pay the price..
Gee, if you're thinking of the act of love as "depositing bacteria", no wonder we don't seem to be communicating very well.
Besides, HPV is a virus.
and as far as cancer also uncircumsized male sex partner ..only you know how many men there have been or the condition of their penis..
Admit it. You're dying for me to tell you. Then you can sit in judgment of me some more.
It is obvious, like many, you do little long term planning .....trading that for the short term gain (pleasure)..that is your choice..
The only thing that's obvious is your tendency to jump to erroneous conclusions based on little or no information. As you did with the article.
.....so I would not be too sure about the "good life " ahead of you.
It may not be perfect (there may be more terrorism or something), but it will be good, and it will be absolute paradise compared to what I left---which, if you're curious, was 21 years of fidelity to a man who neither understood me, appreciated me, or treated me well.
I know all about bitterness (hopefully mine never came through my posts to the extent that *your* does), and my life without it now can only be good.
it does not seem you are doing much to asure it other than dream
What on earth would you know about that?
This article was intended for women just like you
No, it was intended to suggest a link between a small percentage of mouth cancers and the same virus that causes cervical cancer--for which there is soon to be a vaccine. Further study could lead to a cure for some mouth cancers. Nothing but good news on the HPV front! And definitely not written for me.
who that think illness like cancer of the mouth and infertility are someone elses problem. Cancer may indeed be in my future, but it sure won't come from oral sex. I don't obsess about things that aren't even minor risks. I'll save my worries for lymphoma or a stroke or blindness, or something that no one can do anything about, no matter how early they catch it.
I hope for your sake they are
Again, I extend my thanks, in the same spirit your good wishes were given.
I take it you've never seen the uncut version of that Oscar Wilde movie he did ;)
ROFLOL!!!!
I've been wondering if the more Talibanish FR posters here...heh... guess you can figure out who... ... are worried about losing their wives (or have) to someone else.
Gotta cut that pleasure right out!
Be sure to let us know through the hole in the sheet.
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