There was an article in READERS DIGEST about this man who was in good health, early forties, and a non smoker and no tobacco user who had type 4 throat cancer. While I was reading the story the question came up as to how the man contracted the throat cancer. Once the ear, nose, and throat doctor found the tumor at the back of his tongue they biopsed it and discovered that the cancer was caused by HPV. The man was married and had been married for some years so they guessed that he must have contracted it years before meeting his wife. He had no symptoms etc so he never thought about HPV until the throat cancer issue came up. Ok next question that was asked was how did the man get HPV? Answer through oral sex HPV {is} often symptomless and highly contagious. Researchers are currently conducting studies on how HPV is contributing to an increase in throat, head and neck cancer among young people which is not tobacco related. They are contributing the current rise in non tobacco related throat cancer to oral sex and STD’s. They say that the risk of contracting this cancer can be hundreds of times higher in people who've had more than five oral sex partners in their lifetime. According to Dr. Gillison and others, the answer goes back to the late 1970s, when the medical community began to notice the spread of HPV. "It is linked to a change in sexual habits," she says simply.


Maura Gillison, MD, a researcher and professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, was among the first to study the link between the growth of head and neck cancers among younger nonsmokers and certain types of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV). It's the same virus that causes the majority of cervical cancers and warts. The risks are scary because the virus is really common, even in teenagers. Twenty million people in the United States have some form of HPV, and over six million more get it every year. It can be transmitted through oral sex, and both men and women can be infected. Of the more than 35,000 people who will be diagnosed with oral cancer this year, 25 percent of us will connect our diagnosis to HPV infection. As my treatment continues, I'm struck by how nobody seems to know about any of this.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

While few people with HPV get oral cancer, the number is likely to keep rising, says Maura Gillison, MD, of Johns Hopkins, if only because HPV is so common -- 20 million Americans are infected, with 6.2 million new cases each year. So far, there's no cure and just one test -- and only to detect HPV in a woman's cervix. Only a biopsy can tell whether an oral cancer is linked to HPV, but a test to spot high-risk oral infection in men and women and a vaccine for men are both in the works. What you need to know:

• Most people with HPV infections don't have any symptoms. At least half of sexually active men and women may become infected in their lifetime. About 23 percent of women ages 14 to 65 have high-risk HPV, including 35 percent of 14-to 19-year-old girls.

• Gardasil protects against up to 70 percent of the HPV types that cause cervical cancer, but it's unknown if the vaccine protects against oral infection in men or women.

• While most infections clear up on their own without patients ever knowing they were exposed, the consequences can still be severe. For instance, one type of HPV raises the risk of oral cancer by 3,200 percent.

• The virus spreads through any form of sexual activity, and condoms can't fully protect against it. Having more than five oral sex partners boosts the risk of HPV-linked oral cancer by 340 percent.



http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/oral-canc...ticle86868.html
INFO TAKEN FROM AUGUST 2008 READERS DIGEST.

This really needs to be posted for teachers in jr high and high school. Cause the epidemic of kids having oral sex with MANY partners is ASTOUNDING!! They dont even mind having multiple oral sex partners cause they are just worried about pregnancy. if these studies were made known to some of these kids it would be a very good thing. I think the increase in HPV is definitely a result of changes in sexuality.

If any of you know of teen age kids I am sure you know of the epidemic of oral sex in the school. its very sad. I'm not one for vaccinating my children, but I do think that this is a good vaccination to get. I just dont know why the vacccination is not available to teenage boys who seem to be a large blind carrier of the virus.

Actually, the next target group for HPV vaccines is boys of that same age group. Pretty soon, we will all be getting this vaccine, if the pharmaceutical company has its way.

$$$$$$$ is all I can say.