g********d
发帖数: 4174 | 1 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leigh-vinocur-md/oral-sex-cancer_
HPV From Oral Sex? Young People Often Underestimate The Risk
Ironically, April is both Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Awareness month
as well as Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness month. Many people don't
even realize how these two diseases are linked and how they both pose a
serious health risk, especially for our adolescent boys.
As far as STDs, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), even though only a quarter of the sexually active
population is made up of people age 15 to 24, this group comprises almost
half of the newly diagnosed 19 million STD cases each year.
A recent study looked at sexual activity in the high school population.
Published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, this study
found that for high school students, oral sex was most commonly their first
sexual experience when they were beginning experimentation with sexual
activity. It was twice as likely to precede vaginal intercourse than the
other way around. Teens who engaged in oral sex by 9th grade were more
likely to eventually have had vaginal intercourse by the end of 11th grade.
In fact, often experimentation with oral sex led to riskier sexual activity
within six months. The reverse was also found to be true: teens that delayed
having oral sex were less likely to engage in vaginal intercourse during
high school.
There was also this disturbing notion that many teens think of oral sex as a
low-risk sexual activity. They look at it as a way to have sex without the
risk of getting pregnant. However, more importantly, they have a misguided
notion that it has less of a risk of contracting sexually transmitted
diseases. However this is not true, almost all STDs can be contracted from
oral sex too. And while contracting a bacterial STD such as gonorrhea from
oral sex can have more immediate short-term effects and symptoms such as an
inflamed throat infection called gonorrheal pharyngitis, a viral STD such as
human papillomavirus (HPV) can have insidious, serious long-term health
consequences later in life.
While many teens are aware of the dangers of STDs such as chlamydia and
gonorrhea, HPV is another story. Some think it only concerns girls. More
recently there has been a push to educate and vaccinate girls to prevent
cervical cancer, but not much is being said about the potential problem it
poses for adolescent boys.
HPV, according to the CDC, is a very common sexually transmitted disease
infecting about 6 million people a year. It's estimated that 50 percent of
sexually active men and women have been exposed at some point in their lives
. In the majority of infections, our body's immune system takes care of it
without any treatment. However, the same way certain strains of the virus
get into cells of the cervix and change them into cancerous cells, it can
also happen with the cells in the mouth and throat when exposed during oral
sex.
Which brings us to the Oral, Head and Neck Cancer Awareness portion of April
. According to the National Cancer Institute, around 65 percent of the cases
of oropharynx cancer at the base of the tongue and tonsils are associated
with HPV. Almost 80 percent of these cases occur in men. Recent research
finds a rise in the incidence of head and neck cancers in this new
demographic of younger men who never smoked or drank alcohol excessively.
This younger demographic of patients were all found to be HPV-positive
secondary to exposure during oral sex. This is corroborated by a CDC survey
that found about 90 percent of males in general report having oral sex with
partners of the opposite sex. Other studies have found that having six or
more oral sex partners in a lifetime is associated with a three-times higher
risk of HPV-induced oropharyngeal cancer.
A surgical colleague of mine agrees. He does research into the immuno-
biology of head and neck cancers transformed by viruses such as HPV. Dr.
Duane Sewell, M.D., associate professor of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck
Surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, says "Despite the
slight overall decrease we are seeing in the number of head and neck cancer
patients associated with smoking and alcohol use, we are seeing a rise in a
subset of younger men contracting these cancers and they are attributed to
oral sex and HPV."
The good news is that these HPV-related head and neck cancers are somewhat
easier to treat. Some studies have found better survival rates; almost 85
percent of nonsmokers with HPV tumors survive compared to only 45 to 50
percent of those people who are HPV-negative and smoke. And another bright
spot is that while the new vaccines for HPV have been found to prevent only
about 70 percent of cervical cancers in women, they are much more effective
at preventing head and neck cancers. Dr. Sewell states, "About 95 percent of
HPV tumors are attributed to strain 16 which can be prevented by both
commercially available vaccines."
Right now, the CDC only recommends vaccinating adolescent girls -- they came
in just short of a recommendation for boys, stating physicians and parents
have the option to vaccinate their sons if they choose. The public health
community does advocate the vaccination of boys as a form of "herd immunity.
" That means that if we vaccinate boys, we will see fewer men walking around
with HPV and, correspondingly, fewer women, as well. But in light of the
recent study I discussed above, which found oral sex is the gateway to
sexual activity for teens, as both the mother of an adolescent boy and as a
physician, I think people should seriously consider the vaccine for their
sons.
Another important caveat to learn from all this is that we need to speak
frankly and explicitly with our teens about sex. We cannot be squeamish and
dance around the words, even if it means using slang terms and specifics to
get the point across. As uncomfortable as your kids or you may feel, don't
let it stand in the way of their health. It's not worth it. Unlike cancer,
no one ever really died of embarrassment! | m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 2 与男人没有性关系的女同性恋也有可能得宫颈癌了？？太口怕了。。 | g********d
发帖数: 4174 | 3 This is not what this article says.
【在 m******1 的大作中提到】
: 与男人没有性关系的女同性恋也有可能得宫颈癌了？？太口怕了。。
| m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 4 我知道文章里没说，这是我自己推导出的结论，呵呵
【在 g********d 的大作中提到】
: This is not what this article says.
| g********d
发帖数: 4174 | 5 You can't draw this conclusion from this article.
【在 m******1 的大作中提到】
: 我知道文章里没说，这是我自己推导出的结论，呵呵
| m******1
发帖数: 19713 | 6 那你写个总结八
【在 g********d 的大作中提到】
: You can't draw this conclusion from this article.
| g********d
发帖数: 4174 | 7 Later.
【在 m******1 的大作中提到】
: 那你写个总结八
| m******8
发帖数: 2153 | 8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_papillomavirus
I guess that a large percentage of population will catch one kind of HPV,
such as common wart. Sharing of possibly-contaminated objects may transmit
HPV too. |
|
