Can oral sex kill you? Apparently, yes. A British expert claims that the main "risk factor" for oropharyngeal cancer, a particular type of throat cancer that affects the tonsils and back of the throat, is oral sex.  Oh yes, causing waves of shock among adults having sex actively, Dr Hisham Mehanna, a professor at the University of Birmingham's Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, says there has been a "rapid increase" in throat cancer over the past several decades that may have reached "epidemic" proportions in the West.

Human papillomavirus (HPV), which also causes cervical cancer, is the primary cause of oropharyngeal cancer, despite the fact that throat cancer is frequently thought of as a smoking-related disease. He said that oropharyngeal cancer is currently more prevalent than cervical cancer in the US and the UK.

Throat Cancer

According to the American Cancer Society, men are more than twice as likely as women to develop throat cancer, also known as oropharyngeal cancer. It primarily affects your tonsils and the base, or very rear, of your tongue.

Oral cancer, which develops in your lips, gums, tongue, cheek linings, or the roof or floor of your mouth, is distinct from throat cancer. While smoking and chewing tobacco are two common causes of both throat and oral cancer, HPV is not one of them. According to him, specific HPV strains are linked to throat cancer rather than mouth cancer.

Throat Cancer Related to Oral Sex

According to the National Cancer Institute, HPV is responsible for about 70% of oropharyngeal cancer cases. A startlingly common STD is HPV. According to the most recent CDC data, between 2013 and 2014, 45 per cent of men between the ages of 18 and 59 carried some type of HPV. Because it is so widespread, if you engage in sexual activity, you will probably develop HPV at some point in your life.

However, that does not imply that everyone who does will eventually develop the malignancy. That's because your body will typically fight it off, eliminating it from your system within a year or two.

Throat Cancer Caused by HPV On the Rise

It wasn't until recently that medical professionals and academics connected HPV to throat cancer. Smoking used to be the primary factor in the development of throat cancer, and the disease was famously difficult to treat. Hospitals began noticing tonsil cancer in patients who had never smoked between the early 1980s and the early 1990s, and these individuals' malignancies were far easier to treat than those of smokers.

Because HPV is sexually transmitted, "for oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor is the number of lifetime sexual partners, especially oral sex," Mehanna said. "Those with six or more lifetime oral-sex partners are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not practice oral sex," he added.

The majority of HPV infections occur during the sexually active college years. 10% of college students regularly have the cancer-causing HPV in their mouths. Once again, this does not imply that everyone in that group will develop cancer. Your body will often get rid of the illness in two years. Playing the preventative game is the best strategy for avoiding it. To shield yourself against the cancer-causing strains, get the HPV vaccine.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 18, 2023 02:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).