Alain Lafeuillade Level: Platinum
MD, PhD Chief, department of Infectious Diseases, General Hospital, Toulon, France
Most people think about sexually transmitted diseases whenever they assess the risks of oral sex, but new studies show that there may be much more to fear than that. Scientists in the United States have recently determined that there may be a possible link between oral sex and cancer risk in the oral cavity, providing a whole new reason to promote sexual education and awareness. The studies indicate that this risk mainly rises for white men, but there are possibilities of issues across the board. This is a serious problem that is currently under serious investigation.
Oral cancer cases have grown 225% from 1974 to 2007, and the main factor that scientists could link to the new victims is the number of sex partners involved in oral practices they had prior to developing cancer. Oral sex allows for the passing of the human papillomavirus, or HPV. This can lead to the onset of many common STDs, as well as many forms of vaginal, penile, anal, or oral cancers. 40 of the 150 different types of HPV can be passed through sexual intercourse in one way or another, so the spreading of oral ractices and cancel risk go hand in hand.
The US Centers for Disease Control have estimated that more than half of the adult population in America will have some form of HPV in their lives. Some cases may not ever develop into anything, but others could be severe and sometimes fatal. There are some vaccines available now to help prevent the contraction of HPV, but only 40% of the female population in the country has gone through any sort of treatment at this point. Even fewer have actually made it through all three doses of the treatment, and that raises oral sex and cancer risk levels higher than ever before.
It is important in the coming years that more members of the population get the HPV vaccine. This is especially true for the younger sector of the population, as oral sex and cancer risk seem to impact them more than other generations. People with more than six oral sex partners in their life are eight times more at risk of developing a form of cancer from oral sex than those who have a limited number of partners. Proper education in schools and the public as a whole should help to diffuse the growing number of cancer patients in the United States and Europe.
International Symposium on HIV & Emerging Infectious Diseases (ISHEID): the world leading AIDS experts will gather for the 2012 HIV AIDS ISHEID conference in Marseille, France, May 23-25, 2012. The general AIDS conference theme will be 'From Universal HIV Testing to HIV Cure'. http://www.isheid.com/
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