[Levin]

Emily Atkinson
Thu, 27 April 2023 at 4:41 pm SGT


Oral sex is stoking an “epidemic” of throat cancer, which is now more common than cervical cancer in the US and the UK

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Dr Mehanna said: “Over the past two decades, there has been a rapid increase in throat cancer in the West, to the extent that some have called it an epidemic.

“This has been due to a large rise in a specific type of throat cancer called oropharyngeal cancer.”

Medical experts have pegged HPV infection to be the biggest risk factor for developing the disease.

Dr Mehanna continued: “HPV is sexually transmitted. For oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor is the number of lifetime sexual partners, especially oral sex.

“Those with six or more lifetime oral-sex partners are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not practice oral sex.”

In the UK, 80 per cent of adults reported practising oral sex at some point in their lives, Dr Mehanna said.

Around 8,300 people are diagnosed with throat cancer each year in the UK, which is about 1 in every 50 cancers diagnosed

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oral sex is the biggest risk factor for developing the cancer — outstripping smoking, alcohol consumption, and an unhealthy diet.


https://sg.news.yahoo.com/oral-sex-stoki...31131.html