Cancer Linked To Oral Sex Virus

Head and neck cancer linked to a virus spread through oral sex is quickly rising and suggestions are being made that both boys and girls should be offered vaccinations for protection, doctors said Friday.

In recent years, head and neck cancers have been in slight decline, but cases of a particular form known as oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) have been steadily increasing, especially in the developed world.

In a report appearing in the British Medical Journal, doctors said the growth seems to be linked to cancers caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). Two vaccines -- Cervarix, and Gardasil -- can prevent HPV, which is the cause of most every case of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in women around the world.

Many developed countries have launched programs to immunize girls from HPV to try and protect them from the sexually transmitted virus before they become sexually active. While boys have been left out of the immunization program because it has been seen as too expensive, scientists say it may be time to rethink that idea.

“We need to look at the evidence again to re-evaluate the cost-effectiveness of male children in light of this new and rapidly rising incidence,” said Hisham Mehanna of the Institute of Head and Neck Studies at University Hospital Coventry.

More than half a million cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed annually in women and as many as 200,000 a year die from the illness. Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer among both men and women, with about 640,000 new cases annually worldwide.

A recent study showed that the risk of developing head and neck cancer was linked to a history of six or more lifetime sexual partners, four or more oral sex partners, and, in men, an earlier age at first sexual intercourse. HPV-related cancer has been reported in 60-80 percent of recent biopsy samples in studies in the United States, compared to 40 percent ten years earlier, researchers wrote.

The findings have other important health implications, according to Mehenna. Patients with HPV-related head and neck cancer were typically younger and employed, he said. Patients with HPV-related cancer also had a better chance of living longer as the cancer appeared to be less deadly than those caused by smoking and drinking.