Oral Sex & Throat Cancer: New England Journal of Medicine

Completely off topic but interesting.

Oral sex raises your risk of throat cancer scientists have warned.

A new study found the oral sex act can pass on the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can trigger a specific type of throat cancer in both men and women.

And they claim oral sex is an even bigger killer than smoking or drinking.

The researchers found those who had more than six oral sex partners in their lifetime and an HPV infection were 8.6 times more likely to develop the cancer than those who had never engaged in oral sex. Whereas smoking raised the risk of throat cancer three times, and drinking by 2.5.

  There are around 7,600 cases of oesophageal cancer diagnosed in the UK each year and 7,400 deaths related to the disease.

Men can cut the risk to their partners by wearing a condom during oral sex.

Researcher Dr Gypsyamber D'Souza, from the Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, US, said: "It is important to know that people without the traditional risk factors of tobacco and alcohol use can nevertheless be at risk of oropharyngeal cancer.

There are around 7,600 cases of oesophageal cancer diagnosed in the UK each year and 7,400 deaths related to the disease.

But co-author Dr Maura Gillison said: "People should be reassured that oropharyngeal cancer is relatively uncommon, and the overwhelming majority of people with an oral HPV infection probably will not get throat cancer."

The findings are published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.