“The Link Between Oral Sex and Throat Cancer: Expert Warns of ‘Rapid Increase'”

Liputan6.com, Jakarta – It was reported that oral sex activity may be the biggest factor increasing the number of cases of throat cancer in the United States (US). This was stated by a professor at the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences at the University of Birmingham, Dr Hisham Mehanna.

Quoting from the mStar page, Wednesday, May 3 2023, according to Dr Mehanna, there has been a ‘rapid increase’ in cases of throat cancer over the past two decades. In an article for The Conversation, Dr Mehanna said oropharyngeal cancer (the area of ​​the tonsils and back of the throat) is now more common than cervical cancer in the US, and even the UK.

According to a Yahoo News report, he also described the increase in cases as an ‘epidemic’ in both countries. “Those who have had six or more oral sex partners in their life are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not engage in oral sex,” he said.

According to him, the main cause of this cancer is the human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection, with three million new cases in the US each year.

“The prevailing theory is that most of us are infected with HPV and are able to clear (the infection) completely. However, a small number of individuals are unable to clear the infection, possibly due to defects in certain aspects of their immune system,” Mehanna said.

“In such patients, the virus is able to replicate continuously, and over time integrates at random positions into the host’s DNA, some of which can cause the host cell to become cancerous,” he explained.