Sex warning: Oral sex dramatically raises risk of CANCER

ORAL sex dramatically increases a person’s risk of developing throat cancer, according to shock new research.

 

Oral sex may make someone 22 times more likely to develop cancer

 

Scientists discovered this sexual practice was the most effective way of spreading the human papillomavirus-16 (HPV-16) which makes recipients 22 TIMES more likely to get the life-threatening cancer.

There are 15 strains of the virus that can cause cervical cancer, but HPV-16 is the most common.

It is thought HPV is spread to the mouth and throat via oral sex.

 

Michael Douglas claimed his throat cancer had been caused by oral sex

 

Michael Douglas claimed his throat cancer - diagnosed in 2010 - was caused by HPV. The actor recovered from the stage four tumour.

The research looked at 97,000 people who had traces of the HPV-16 strain in their mouth using mouthwash samples.

Participants were cancer free at the beginning of the study, but were followed for an average of four years after which 132 cases of head and neck cancer were identified.

The researchers compared these results to almost 400 healthy subjects who acted as controls.

 

Throat cancer is more commonly associated with smoking and heaving drinking.

 

Those with HPV-16 present in their mouthwash samples were 22 times more likely to develop the cancer.

Dr Ilir Agalliu, of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, said: "This study shows using easily collected oral mouthwash samples may help in predicting people's risk for developing head and neck cancers."

Throat cancer is commonly associated with smoking and heaving drinking. More recently it has been linked with HPV.

HPV affects almost everyone at some point in their life.

  

There are many strains of HPV. HPV-16 is most commonly linked to cervical cancer

 

The virus can be spread via skin contact. In most cases, our immune system is able to fight it off.

In rare occasions is can lead to cancer of the cervix, anus, penis, vagina or mouth.

Over the past three decades, oral tumours have been on the increase and it is now one of the fastest rising cancers in the UK - affecting 5,000 every year.

One of the largest studies on the topic revealed that people who had more than six oral sex partners or more than 26 vaginal sex partners, had an increased risk of oral cancer.