The truth about oral sex causing oral cancer

HPV virus transmitted through oral sex is believed to cause oral cancer but in reality there is no specific evidence.

Oral cancer became a hot topic of discussion in 2013 after actor Michael Douglas publicly admitted he contracted the disease from oral sex. The 72-year-old star said oral sex gave him the HPV (human papillomavirus) infection that led to cancer. This sparked a debate about whether oral cancer (including throat cancer) is a sexually transmitted disease.

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According to Medical Daily, each year in the US, more than 3,100 women and 12,600 men are diagnosed with HPV-related oral cancer. A 2011 study in the journalThe Journal of Clinical Oncology found that this type of cancer increased from 16.3% in 1984 to 71.7% in 2004. At the same time, some experts at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science said that HPV had surpassed tobacco to become the leading cause of cancer.oral sex in people under 50 years old.

In fact,most ofWe are all at risk of being infected with HPV. The virus is so common that nearly all sexually active men and women will get at least one type in their lifetime. However,Not everyone is affected.

HPV includes more than 100 strains of virus, but only 15 are dangerous. Detecting HPV in a patient with oral cancer does not mean it is the cause of cancer.If the body is infected, HPV becomes part of the genetic material that promotes cancer cell growth.

"In most cases, the virus goes away on its own without causing any health problems. It is not certain that people infected with HPV will develop cancer," the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded. In addition, if oral cancer is detected early and treated properly, patients have an 80-90% chance of survival..

According to VNE