In case you were worried...Because I was.

MONDAY, Mar. 26, 2012 — Over the past several months there have been a number of alarming news reports highlighting links between oral sex, the human pappillomavirus (HPV), and cancers of the head and neck. It all basically started after the Journal of Clinical Oncology published a study in October detailing a significant increase in rates of HPV-related throat cancers.

The journal article was certainly eye-opening. Researchers tested tumor samples from patients diagnosed with throat cancer between 1984 and 2004. They found that the HPV virus was detected in only 16 percent of samples from the 1980s; in samples taken from 2000 on, however, the presence of HPV jumped to 72 percent. Reporting on the study’s release last fall, the The New York Times wrote, “If the trend continues, by 2020 the [HPV] virus will be causing more throat cancer than cervical cancer.”

No one would dispute that the proportion of overall head and neck cancers attributed to HPV has increased. The virus is now a more likely cause of oral cancer than tobacco use. But if the what isn’t in question in this situation, the why is another story. “Researchers think the trend may be attributable to increases in oral sex, particularly among younger people who think it is safer than intercourse,” the Times reported.

But a new analysis of the available evidence by psychologist and sex therapist Dr. Sara Rosenquist says that blaming oral sex for the rise in these types of cancers is counter-productive to our sexual health and distorts the overall picture.

According to Rosenquist’s report, which was published online in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, “The link between oral sex, HPV, and cancer is not a simple cause and effect relationship.” First of all, Rosenquist says, “The mere presence of HPV does not determine cancer risk even when several high-risk strains are present in the same person.” As Rosenquist points out, HPV infection is common and in most people their body’s immune system clears the virus within 18 months. The key factor in the HPV-oral-cancer-oral-sex connection is that infection is more likely to cause cancer when it can’t be cleared due to a compromised immune system, Rosenquist says. Suppressed immune function can be caused by a variety of factors, ranging from AIDS and HIV to long-term marijuana use, chronic stress and anxiety, and multiple sexual partners.

But among healthy sexually active people, HPV leading to cancer is not generally something to worry about, Rosenquist argues. “HPV should not be a cause for concern among monogamous couples with a rich and varied sex life,” she writes in the conclusion of her study, “as long as the sexual system remains closed and other immune compromising factors are not present.”

In the end, practicing safe sex and not straying from your partner are better deterrents to HPV-related head and neck cancers than curtailing an entire of part your sex life.

Last Updated: 03/26/2012


Here's the link to the actual article.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/sexual-health/0326/does-oral-sex-really-cause-head-and-neck-cancer.aspx?xid=aol_eh-sex_4_20120326_&aolcat=HLT&icid=maing-grid10|htmlws-main-bb|dl27|sec3_lnk2&pLid=147057