 | | | | Related Healthscout Videos | |
|
May 10, 2007 (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- The human papillomavirus (HPV) is most commonly associated with cervical cancer. Now, a new study links HPV with throat cancers.
Since 2000, researchers have believed a link exists, but they have not understood behaviors that connect the two and why some people were at greater risk.
Text Continues Below
Study authors looked at 100 men and women newly diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer (cancer of the tonsils, back of the tongue and throat). They found those individuals who had evidence of HPV infection were 32-times more likely to develop the cancer. When researchers looked at sexual history of the participants, they found those who reported having oral sex with more than six different people were at an 8.6-times greater risk of developing the HPV-related cancer. They saw no increased risk for people who smoke or drank alcohol.
Oral HPV can be transmitted by a number of methods including skin contact and through urine, saliva, semen and mucus in the genital tract. The main mode of transit, though, is oral sex. Most infections clear with time, but some, clearly, do go on to develop HPV-related cancers.
Among the study participants who had oropharyngeal cancers, 72 percent showed the presence of HPV 16. Also, the link between presence of antibodies made by HPV and these oral cancers was even greater than the link between high cholesterol and heart attacks.
Researchers say there is some good news in all this. These patients have a very strong five-year survival rate.
There are currently no screening methods for oral cancers aside from visual inspection by a dentist although some believe a "swish and spit" test is feasible down the road. Lead study author Maura Gillison, M.D., Ph.D., is also working with the makers of the highly publicized HPV vaccine, Gardasil to determine its effectiveness in stopping oral cancers.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine, 2007;356:1944-56
|
.gif)
