London: You may want to rethink before playing the body trumpet as a new study has revealed that oral sex can raise the risk for head and neck cancer by seven times.
The Albert Einstein College of Medicine research shows a strong connection between the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can be spread through oral sex, and head and neck cancer. The virus can raise the risk of getting head and neck cancer by as much as seven times, and maybe by far more, the Independent reported.
The study, which involved nearly 97,000 people in two studies, also shows that the virus can be detected in a mouthwash. The virus can also be prevented with a vaccine.
Head and neck cancers were long thought to have been caused by smoking and drinking. But a sharp rise in the number of cases led doctors to speculate that there may be another cause, and the new study is the first to show conclusively that HPV-16 precedes the development of those cancers.
The explanation gained particular publicity when actor Michael Douglas said that he believed he had contracted his cancer through oral sex. The new study is proof of the strong connection between those two activities. The research is published online in JAMA Oncology.
