A new highly-regarded study shows a 22-fold increased risk for incident oropharyngeal cancer, a head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), following evidence of human papillomavirus (HPV) in the mouth -- likely transmitted via oral sex. Decades ago, such cancers were less common and assumed to be caused by smoking and drinking.
"This was a well-designed and conducted study." -- Dana E. Rollison, PhD, Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida
Risks of sexual immorality: add oral sex to the list, along with cancers of the anus and penis.
For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:
Dr. Ilir Agalliu and colleagues at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York looked at the records of more than 96,000 people taking part in a big medical study.
They all took a mouthwash test for oral HPV infection as part of the study. Four years later, 132 of them had developed some form of head and neck cancer. The researchers compared each patient with cancer to three similar people who didn't get it.
People infected with a strain called HPV-16 were between two and 22 times as likely to be in the cancer group, the team reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association's JAMA Oncology.
Experts believe 70 percent of all head and neck cancers are caused by HPV, likely spread by oral sex. According to experts, by 2020 head and neck cancer will beat out cervical cancer as the most common HPV-related cancer.
Dr Agalliu explained what prompted this study. "We had previously detected an unusually high prevalence of HPV types found on the skin and in skin cancers in the oral cavity, in addition to HPV16 and other high-risk types," he told Medscape Medical News.
"Moreover, there have been no prospective studies examining associations between oral HPVs and the subsequent risk of head and neck cancers," he pointed out.
The detection of HPV DNA in oral rinse specimens was associated with a 7.1-fold increase in the odds of incident HNSCC (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2 - 22.6), after adjustment for smoking history and alcohol consumption.
However, oral DNA detection of other high-risk oncogenic HPV types, excluding HPV16, was not associated with the risk for HNSCC.
It's well known that "sex sells" in advertising and mass media, but the consequence of the sexual revolution is a difficult sell -- ergo, STD Awareness Month. Latching onto this in-all-appearances, well-intentioned campaign are the likes of Planned Parenthood and others in the sex and abortion industries. The federal government reports that sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) cost Americans $16 billion annually -- mostly involving the "young invincibles."
The Department of Public Health wants to encourage the community to “get tested.” Chlamydia and gonorrhea can cause infertility in women, and these and other STDs can increase HIV transmission in both men and women.
“STDs pose a serious public health threat to county residents, particularly adolescents and young adults,” said Meaghan Ellis, Community Health Services and Health Center director for the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. “Many STDs often have no signs or symptoms, but can be effectively treated once diagnosed.”
The goal of the campaign is to encourage people to get tested, start treatment right away if they test positive for an STD and learn how to be STD free.
The Wood County Health Department says half of sexually active young people will get a sexually transmitted disease (STD) by age 25. Rates of Chlamydia and Gonorrhea have risen dramatically in recent years. Additionally, more cases of Hepatitis C are being seen.
The Healthy People Wood County Healthy Growth and Development Team is working through many different venues to reduce rising STD rates in Wood county.
The first endeavor will be to raise awareness about STD's, offer free testing for HIV and Hepatitis C and spread the word about Get Yourself Tested (GYT) at local colleges.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) announced today that it will mark the sixth annual GYT: Get Yourself Tested campaign in April-STD Awareness Month-by offering free STD and HIV tests at 18 of its Indiana health centers.
GYT is a national campaign to promote sexual health and address the disproportionately high rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) - including HIV, chlamydia, and gonorrhea - among young people under 25.
Half of the estimated 20 million sexually transmitted diseases contracted each year occur among the under-25 age group, although they only represent one-quarter of the sexually active population. In fact, one in two sexually active young people in the U.S. will contract an STD by the time they're 25 - and most won't know it.
Just about any sexual behavior carries a risk of infection, but STDs fit into a particular category of being passed only through sexual contact.
Women ages 15-25 are at the highest risk for chlamydia, which is easily treated with antibiotics if caught in time. Gonorrhea and syphilis also respond well to treatment with early detection. HIV, the virus causing AIDS, has no cure, but can be managed with medication.
Infections of human papillomavirus (HPV), a common disease that can cause cervical cancer in women, can be prevented through immunization. The vaccine has been the subject of controversy, because some believe it encourages girls to become sexually active.
The best defense against STDs is abstinence, but that might be an unreasonable expectation among adults. The most effective countermeasures for the sexually active are a barrier, such as a male or female condom, and being tested twice a year or if symptoms arise.
Approximately 110 million Americans – more than a third of the entire U.S. population - were infected with a sexually transmitted disease (STD) as of 2008, the latest date for which figures are available, the CDC spokeswoman confirmed. That includes more than a million Americans living with HIV.
CDC estimates that nearly 20 million new STD cases are contracted annually . . .
Women aged 20 to 24 have the highest chlamydia infection rate (3,695.5 cases per 100,000), more than twice the rate as men of the same age (1,350.4 cases per 100,000), according to the report, which added that “during 2008-2012, the chlamydia rate in men jumped 25%, compared with an 11% increase in women during this period.”
In 2012, the average chlamydia infection rate in the U.S. was 456.7 per 1,000 population. Mississippi had the highest rate (774.0 per 1,000) while New Hampshire had the lowest (233.0 per 1,000).
CDC also reported 334,826 new cases of gonorrhea (up 4.1% since 2011) and 15,667 new cases of primary and secondary syphilis (up 11.1% percent since 2011, primarily among gay and bisexual men, who account for 75% of all new cases), noting that “antimicrobial resistance remains an important consideration in the treatment of gonorrhea.”
The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just issued a document quoting the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association saying "Most sexually active people will be infected with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) at some point in their lives." Also just released is a report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office saying that America will never reach full employment while Barack Obama is president.
19.7 million new sexual disease infections in one year is far greater than the total of all jobs created plus all new college graduates since President Obama was first elected.
The STI study referenced by the CDC estimated that 50 percent of the new infections in 2008 occurred among people in the 15-to-24 age bracket. In fact, of the 19,738,800 total new STIs in the United States in 2008, 9,782,650 were among Americans in the 15-to-24 age bracket.
By contrast, there were 1,524,092 bachelor’s degrees awarded in the United States in the 2007-2008 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. That means the total number of new STIs in 2008 outpaced the total number of new bachelor’s degrees by nearly 13 to 1, and the number of new STIs among Americans in the 15-to-24 age bracket outnumbered new bachelor’s degrees by more than 6 to 1.
While the CDC estimates that there were 19.7 million new STIs in the United States in 2008, data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that the total number of people employed in the country actually declined by 2.9 million during that year.
The CDC said the new venereal infections contracted each year cost the nation about $16 billion.
Results: In 2008, there were an estimated 110 million prevalent STIs among women and men in the United States. Of these, more than 20% of infections (22.1 million) were among women and men aged 15 to 24 years. Approximately 19.7 million incident infections occurred in the United States in 2008; nearly 50% (9.8 million) were acquired by young women and men aged 15 to 24 years. Human papillomavirus infections, many of which are asymptomatic and do not cause disease, accounted for most of both prevalent and incident infections.
Conclusions: Sexually transmitted infections are common in the United States, with a disproportionate burden among young adolescents and adults. Public health efforts to address STIs should focus on prevention among at-risk populations to reduce the number and impact of STIs.
CDC estimates that HPV accounts for the majority of newly acquired STIs. While the vast majority (90 percent) of HPV infections will go away on their own within two years and cause no harm, some of these infections will take hold and potentially lead to serious disease, including cervical cancer . . . While there is no treatment for the virus itself, there are treatments for the serious diseases that HPV can cause, and vaccines are available to prevent some types of HPV infection . . .
Most sexually active men and women will get HPV at some point in their lives. . . .
Abstaining from sex, reducing the number of sexual partners [a.k.a."life-long marriage"], and consistently and correctly using condoms are all effective STI prevention strategies. . . .
That would make Obama the only American president during the post-World War II era who never presided over a year in which the U.S. economy offered full employment to the American people.
In a blog entry published last week, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said “we think it will take four more years to get back close to full employment.”
In fact, baseline data CBO released last month indicate . . . that actual unemployment will never drop below 6.0 percent in any quarter between now and the end of 2016.
According to CBO, unemployment will remain above 7.0 percent through the third quarter of 2015. It will then drop to 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, and gradually decline to 6.0 percent by the fourth quarter of 2016.
In a study of 492 men from rural Brazil, 35 percent reported having had sex with an animal at some point in their lives. The report found those men were twice as likely to develop cancer of the penis.
The paper was authored by a team of urologists from centers around Brazil and studied men from age 18 to 80. Men who had had sex with animals also reported a higher incidence of sexually transmitted diseases. Of the 118 penile cancer patients, 45 percent reported having had sex with animals, compared to 32 percent of healthy men. Fifty-nine percent of men who had sex with animals did so for one to five years, while 21 percent continued the behavior, also known as zoophilia, for more than five years.
Men reported having sex as frequently as daily with such animals as mares, cows, pigs and and chickens. Penile cancer accounts for up to 10 percent of cancers in men in Asia, Africa and South America, although it is rare in the U.S.
. . . the state of Michigan has laws related to cruelty to animals – Crime Against Nature or Sodomy – that is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison not more than 15 years, or if such person was at the time of the said offense a sexually delinquent person, may be punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for an indeterminate term, the minimum of which shall be one day and the maximum of which shall be life.
Michigan is one of 30 states that have enacted laws that prohibit sexual contact between humans and animals.
"We think that the intense and long-term SWA [sex with animals] practice could produce micro-traumas in the human penile tissue," Stenio de Cassio Zequi, a urologist in Sao Paolo, told LiveScience. "The genital mucous membranes of animals could have different characteristics from human genitalia, and the animals' secretions are probably different from human fluids. Perhaps animal tissues are less soft than ours, and non-human secretions would be toxic for us."
But that's not the only possible explanation. The study also fingered smoking, having sex with prostitutes, precancerous conditions of the penis, being nonwhite, and phimosis (a condition in which the foreskin cannot be fully retracted) as risk factors for penile cancer.
Sex with animals could be as ancient as sex itself. "Since time immemorial, this habit has been described in folk music, theater, jokes and oral traditions," Zequi told LiveScience. "In some antique civilizations there were temples or rituals designated for SWA practices." Yet SWA is underrepresented in scientific literature, and the new study is the first to link the practice to male genital cancers.
Tobias Köhler, a urologist at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine who was not involved in the research, said the study was rigorous. "It adds to our knowledge of cancer prevention and gives us epidemiological data we never really had before on sex with animals.”
He postulated that the lifestyle of men who have sex with animals could also be a factor. "The study reported that these men also have more sex with prostitutes," Köhler said.
As the liberal media highlighted the heated presidential candidate debate concerning mandatory HPV vaccinations for pre-teens, they inadvertently damaged their own sexualization agenda, and so they've retrenched and are now reporting the cancer-causing effects of HPV infection -- insisting that all girls and boys be vaccinated ASAP. What the media refuse to acknowledge is that abstinence is 100% effective in stopping this sexually transmitted virus.
The problem is rooted in a culture that demands acceptance of sexual immorality.
. . . an increasing number of men in their 30s and 40s [where] cancer was invading the lymph nodes in his neck.
Dr. Robert Haddad at the Dana Farber Cancer Center said he considers the rise in cases among men an epidemic.
"Fifteen years ago, almost every patient we saw with head and neck cancer was a smoker or drinker. Right now, in 2011, 20 percent of patients are smokers and drinkers and the other 80 percent get this cancer because of HPV infection," Haddad said.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 24 million people in the U.S. are infected with HPV at any given time. It's spread sexually, although some doctors believe it could ultimately become known as a kissing disease.
Michele Bachmann is on the defensive about comments she made earlier this week suggesting that a vaccine against a virus linked to cervical cancer poses a danger to young girls.
During the Republican debate Bachmann attacked her rival Rick Perry for mandating vaccinations against the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) for Texas school girls - a decision that the Texas legislature later overruled.
"To have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just flat out wrong," she said during the debate.
Scientists have accused her of promulgating a flat Earth theory of medicine. At an appearance in Virginia on Wednesday, Perry told reporters that Bachmann's assertions had "no basis in fact."
Yet none of [the media fury] changes a central fact: It’s essential that we vaccinate against HPV, which infects as much as half our population. More virulent strains are linked to cervical cancer, a killer of more than 4,000 women each year. The virus also causes genital warts, anal, throat and penile cancers in men.
It’s so easily spread that condoms don’t offer complete protection. Teaching abstinence before marriage doesn’t, either, unless you can guarantee your child’s future spouse has never had sexual contact with another person.
So why is it the vaccine that’s stirring up alarm? Because of mouthpieces of mythology such as Michele Bachmann, who suggested it causes mental retardation, despite a total lack of evidence. And religious conservatives who believe it will somehow turn innocent girls into strumpets.
In fact, we should be mandating this vaccine for all young girls — and boys, once their version is vetted.
The California legislature is now pushing through a bill to remove parental notification for children as young as 12 to receive the dangerous STD vaccine Gardasil.
“Sexual zealots in Californian politics believe that 12-year-old boys and girls are sexual animals that have no need or ability to control their own behavior.” -- Paul E. Rondeau, director of communications for American Life League.
Assembly Bill 499 -- authored by Democratic Assemblywoman Toni Atkins -- would give the government permission to administer sexual health treatments and to vaccinate children 12 years of age and up without parental consent. Current law permits minors to consent to some types of medical or dental treatment. The bill would allow the child to specifically consent to "medical care related to the prevention of a sexually transmitted disease."
The bill is supported by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood.
The American Life League reports that each treatment of the HPV vaccine Gardasil, has an average cost of over $360, a sum that would be footed by taxpayers.
Gardasil, the most popular HPV vaccine, has been found to cause dangerous side effects and as many as twelve deaths in the United States alone.
The state had attempted but failed in 2007 to mandate HPV vaccinations for all girls entering junior high.
Hearings on AB499 are expected starting on August 15. If passed, California governor Jerry Brown is widely expected to sign the measure.
From "Vaccines Save Lives. Period." by Rod Moser, PA, PhD (primary care physician assistant) posted at WebMD 8/8/11
The HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine is one of our new vaccines designed to prevent cervical cancer in women. Preteen and teen girls who will eventually become sexually involved at some point in their lives are getting it. This virus does not jump up the vagina like a misdirected flea. The virus is transmitted from innocent-looking penises. Since the males of our species are the trustees of these problematic penises, they need to be vaccinated, too. Sure, condoms would stop this virus in its tracks, but condoms are not always used. HPV does not limit its cancer-causing potential just to the cervix. Oral and anal sex have grown in popularity among all sexually-active adults, straight and gay, so ENTs are seeing an increasing number of HPV-caused cancers in throats, tonsils, and anuses. Knowing this, some insurance companies are still refusing to pay for the HPV vaccine in boys. Of course, these insurance companies will pay for the cancer treatment.
I am always respectful of parental concerns. I listen to their side of the argument, read their strange articles they find on the Internet, but then they have to listen to me. Personally, I feel that a parent probably has the right to decide which disease they would like their unvaccinated child to get, but as humans, sharing this small planet, we need to think of others.
Vaccinating men who have sex with men (MSM) against the human papillomavirus is a cost-effective method for preventing anal cancer and gential warts, a new analysis published in Lancet Infectious Diseases has found. Last year the FDA approved the use of Merck’s HPV vaccine Gardasil to prevent genital warts for boys and men ages 9 to 26 . . .
. . . Dr. Whelan notes: “Unfortunately, by that age [post-pubescent], most of the target group will likely have already acquired HPV infection, thereby reducing the efficacy of the vaccine. Earlier vaccination would also likely be protective against other HPV-related cancers, such as oral cancer.”
But now, growing evidence shows that the vaccine also may prevent anal cancer, particularly in the high-risk groups of homosexual and bisexual men, who are about 20 times more likely than heterosexuals to develop the disease.
But HPV vaccine critics contend that it’s overkill to recommend vaccinating all boys and men in order to protect a small group from what’s estimated at about 5,000 cases of HPV-related invasive cancers each year.
[A] majority of young women who are eligible for the [HPV] vaccine are either not getting it or are not following the three-shot protocol to be fully immunized.
Researchers from the University of Maryland analyzed data from 9,658 teenagers and young women who were eligible for the HPV vaccination at the University of Maryland Medical Center between August 2006 and August 2010. Fewer than one-third (2,641 people) of the women started the three-shot series. Among those women, 39% got a single dose and 30% received two doses. An additional 31% got the complete regimen.
Gardasil is licensed for females age 9 through 26 and Cervarix is licensed for females age 10 through 25. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all girls who are 11 or 12 years old get the three doses (shots) of either brand of HPV vaccine to protect against cervical cancer and precancer. Girls and young women age 13 through 26 should get all three doses of an HPV vaccine if they have not received all doses yet. Gardasil is also licensed for males age 9 through 26 to prevent genital warts.
"Women who are eligible for this vaccine and could potentially benefit aren't getting it at rates to maximally prevent cervical cancer," said study author J. Kathleen Tracy, an assistant professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.
According to background information in the abstract, about 30% of sexually active 14- to 19-year-olds are infected with HPV at any one time. Over time, persistent infection can lead to cervical cancer.
The stigma surrounding sexually transmitted diseases may also be a deterrent. "There are these connotations with sexually transmitted diseases, so I think a lot of parents feel that, when you're talking about minors, everybody else should have the vaccine except their own child," said [Dr. Mark Wakabayashi, chief of gynecologic oncology at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif.], who recommends the vaccine to his patients.
Doctors say that changing sexual behaviors -- earlier sex, more partners and especially oral sex -- are contributing to a new epidemic of orpharyngeal squamous cell cancers, those of the throat, tonsils and base of the tongue.
Two decades ago, about 20 percent of all oral cancers were HPV-related, but today that number is more than 50 percent, according to studies published by the American Association for Cancer Research.
Each year, more than 30,000 new cases of cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx are diagnosed, and more than 8,000 people die from oral cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
HPV is the most common sexually-transmitted infection. Those who are infected often have no symptoms and pass it on to their partners through genital contact during vaginal and anal sex. It can also be transmitted during oral sex and, more rarely, during deep kissing through saliva.
HPV can also cause cancers of the vulva, vagina, penis and anus, and there is some evidence it is associated with esophageal and lung cancers.
Very little HPV was seen until the 1980s. "It was very rare in our archives," said Cullen. "But each year we looked, it was more prevalent. Why, no one is really sure."
Mississippi and Arkansas, two of the nation's poorest states, also have the highest death rates from cervical cancer — a result of poor access to basic screenings and health care for a large number of women, says Peter Bach of New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Yet in Mississippi, where the vaccine could perhaps save the greatest number of lives, only 16% of teen girls in 2008 received the shot, called Gardasil, according to Bach's paper in Saturday's The Lancet. About 22% of Arkansas girls ages 13 to 17 got the vaccine, which costs $390 for three shots.
. . . women's health activist Barbara Brenner of Breast Cancer Action says Bach's study highlights broad inequalities in American health care. "There are places in this country where women have nothing," Brenner says. "But we don't notice them until a story like this comes out."
When the vaccine Gardasil was first introduced, the mainstream media wasted no time falsely touting it as a cure for cervical cancer. The dangerous side effects of Gardasil – including death – were also ignored. Even though the side effects are now known, a March 18 article in USA Today by Liz Szabo worried about girls who are not receiving the vaccine.
. . . a National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) study in February of 2009 . . . found that 29 known cases in which patients have died after receiving Gardasil. Szabo never mentioned a single one of those deaths.
And it’s not just deaths that Gardasil causes. According to NVIC press release: “Nearly 90 percent of all Gardasil recipients and 85 percent of aluminum placebo recipients reported one or more adverse events within 15 days of vaccination, particularly at the injection site. Pain and swelling at injection site and fever occurred in approximately 83 percent of Gardasil and 73 percent of aluminum placebo recipients. About 60 percent of those who got Gardasil or the aluminum placebo had systemic adverse events including headache, fever, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea, myalgia. Gardasil recipients had more serious adverse events such as headache, gastroenteritis, appendicitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, asthma, bronchospasm and arthritis.”
The investigation into why poorer women have a higher risk of the disease found they tended to have sex about four years earlier than more affluent women.
Previously, it had been thought the disparity was the result of low screening uptake in poorer areas.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer findings are published in the British Journal of Cancer.
The age at which a woman had her first baby was also an important factor.
Dr. Vanessa Cullins, V.P. of Planned Parenthood says, ". . . whether you're thinking this is a relationship going to end up in marriage or one that's going to end up as a one-night stand . . . in terms of sexually transmitted diseases, expect to have HPV once you become sexually intimate. All of us get it."
British government-required immunizations of young girls with Cervarix is hazardous, causing consternation among sexual revolutionaries, just as Gardasil is a disappointment in the U.S.
Doctors' reports show that girls of 12 and 13 have experienced convulsions, fever and paralysis after being given the vaccine, which is now administered in schools as part of efforts to prevent women developing cancer.
Others suffered nausea, muscle weakness, dizziness and blurred vision, according to a special report drawn up by drug safety watchdogs.
A support group says it has received dozens of calls from parents who believe their daughters have been damaged by the vaccine.
The immunisation programme for teenage girls is controversial because it protects them from the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus which causes 70 per cent of cervical tumours.
. . . the report prepared by the [government] earlier this month also discloses cases in which teens have suffered convulsions, eye rolling, muscle spasms, seizures and hyperventilation soon after being given the jab.
Three years after the world's first cervical-cancer vaccine was hailed as a public-health breakthrough, Gardasil is facing renewed questions about its safety and value.
In today's Journal of the American Medical Association, federal researchers analyze 12,424 voluntary reports of post-vaccination "adverse events" ranging from headaches to deaths. They conclude that only two complaints - fainting and dangerous blood clots -- are more common than expected and may be related to the immunization.
But an accompanying editorial points out that many questions about Gardasil remain - key among them, whether it really will reduce the toll of cervical cancer.
Another opinion piece in JAMA looks at Merck & Co.'s marketing strategy, contending the company coopted professional medical societies to promote and recommend the vaccine.
Gardasil, a series of three shots, protects against two strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) that cause 70 percent of cervical-cancer cases. Gardasil also wards off two other HPV strains that cause 90 percent of genital warts in men and women.
Next month, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will consider whether to recommend expanding Gardasil's current approval for females ages 9 to 26 to include males of the same age. Vaccinating men would reduce HPV transmission to women and protect men from very rare HPV-related anal, head, and neck cancers.
The FDA panel will also review data on would-be rival Cervarix, the cervical-cancer vaccine for which GlaxoSmithKline is seeking FDA approval. Cervarix does not protect against genital warts.
It is associated with gonorrheal pharyngitis - a sexually transmitted infection of the tonsils and back of the throat that immediately causes symptoms, she noted, and now is associated with mouth HPV infections that are silent "yet may lead to oral cancer 10 to 20 years later."
[Dr. Maura L.] Gillison from The Ohio State University, Columbus, and colleagues explored whether sexual behaviors were associated with the odds of oral HPV infection in 332 adults and in 210 college-aged men. They found that 4.8 percent of the adults and 2.9 percent of college-aged men had oral HPV infection.
Among adults, the odds of oral HPV infection were significantly elevated among current tobacco smokers and among individuals who reported having either more than 10 oral or more than 25 vaginal sex partners during their lifetime.
Similar risk factors applied to the college-aged men. For them, having at least six recent oral sex or open-mouthed kissing partners were independently associated with increased odds of developing oral HPV infection.
The incidence of tonsil cancer has tripled in the city of Stockholm since the 1970s and doctors at the world-famous Karolinska Institute there think they know why.
Oral sex. Or perhaps French kissing. And changes in sexual behavior that took place 20 or 30 years ago, says Tina Dalianis, a professor of tumor virology at Karolinska.
Her research has directly linked the increase in tonsil cancers to the human papillomavirus (HPV). There are more than 100 different types of HPV, some of which cause cancer. One, for example, is responsible for 99.7% of all cervical cancers.
With abstinence education the obvious remedy for the epidemic, the media insist rampant sex continue: "You have to be careful. Know who you're with and you have to take precautions. You need to educate yourself."
While most HPV infections clear on their own, there is an alarming surge of oral cancers linked to the virus.
Johns Hopkins researchers reported in a study published in February in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that between 1973 and 2004 the incidence of HPV-related oral cancers among people in their 40s nearly doubled. Today more than 34,000 people have oral cancer and 39 percent of those cases are related to HPV, according to data from the American Cancer Society.
"There is absolutely a link between oral sex and oral cancer," said Dr. Ellen Rome, of the Cleveland Clinic.
Men are 35 percent more likely than women to develop HPV-related oral cancer, according to the study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. But both men and women are susceptible.
While scientists don't know yet how sexual orientation factors into the equation, they know the No. 1 risk factor is a high number of sexual partners. So straight or gay, the more partners, the more risk.
Infection with the virus usually happens in adolescence. And while oral sex today isn't necessarily more prevalent than it was in the past, it certainly is more accepted. And some often presume it is free of risks.
A 2005 study in the Journal Pediatrics found that teens think oral sex is less risky to their health than vaginal sex.
Sexual revolutionaries desperately want children to be free to have sex at the earliest ages. TheHPV vaccine is a key element of the strategy to sexualize children, along with condoms, the pill, the day-after pill, and abortion -- all without parental consent.
Below are excerpts from two articles; note the "media spin" resulting from the same study.
A new economic analysis shows that the HPV vaccine, which protects against the viruses that cause most cervical cancers and genital warts, could be a good financial investment in public health if given to those who have the most to gain: preadolescent girls and women up to age 21.
Authors of the study, in today's New England Journal of Medicine, measured the Gardasil vaccine's value by calculating the cost of giving one person an extra healthy year of life and balancing the expense of vaccinations with the benefits of avoiding cancer, death and related expenses.
More than half of girls have been exposed to HPV by the time they finish high school, says Carol Baker, professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and a member of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Because some women could still be protected, it makes economic sense to offer "catch-up" shots to women up to age 21, but not to older women, Kim says. The vaccine was approved in 2006 for women up to age 26.
First, Gardasil's long-term effectiveness is unclear. Because cervical cancer takes years to develop, critics say the current information is insufficient to determine whether Gardasil works.
"The overall effect of the vaccines on cervical cancer remains unknown," Dr. Carolyn J. Haug, the Journal of Norwegian Medical Association's editor, wrote in the New England Journal editorial. "The real impact of HPV vaccination on cervical cancer will not be observable for decades."
Gardasil is also expensive, costing about $400 to $1,000 for the necessary three doses of the vaccine. Studies have not proven how long the immunity will last and whether or not additional shots will be needed, which would raise the cost even higher.
And it's not a slam dunk. The vaccine only protects against some of the viruses that cause cervical cancer, so women still need regular pap screenings. And some doctors said that a traditional pap screen may be more effective.
These remaining questions have prompted some doctors to ask if it's worth it for girls to get vaccinated in the first place.
"Most of the information people have right now leads them to believe that if they're vaccinated with Gardasil, they're protected for life, and that's just not true," said Dr. Diane Harper of Dartmouth College.
There is also the issue of side effects. FDA records reveal that, since Gardasil's approval, nearly 9,000 girls had "bad health events" after receiving their shots. These included 78 reported outbreaks of genital warts, 18 deaths and six cases of Guillain Barre Syndrome, which can result in paralysis. It is unknown whether there are unseen side effects, like decreasing the body's ability to fight off other strains of the HPV virus.
A researcher who worked on a vaccine for the human papillomavirus is warning that it hasn't been tested on young girls, is "silly" for states to mandate the vaccination, and in a worst-case scenario could even increase cervical cancer rates.
In a report published by the Indiana-based Daily News, researcher Diane M. Harper said giving such a vaccine to 11-year-olds "is a great big public health experiment."
Further, she said, requiring vaccinations now "is simply to Merck's benefit."
Harper is a professor and director at the Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Research Group at Dartmouth, and told the publication that there "is not enough evidence gathered on side effects to know that safety is not an issue."
Harper, who has spent much of the last 20 years studying dozens of strains of HPV, said all of her trials have been with subjects ages 15 to 25, and personally she believes the new vaccine could offer help to women ages 18 and up.
The new vaccine, Gardasil, made by Merck and Co., has been an issue recently because of Merck's aggressive lobbying at the state level to have lawmakers require that all schoolgirls at about age 11 or 12 be vaccinated with its product – at a cost estimated at about $360-$400 per child.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry in February issued an executive order requiring those vaccinations, but the state House of Representatives in Texas has approved by a 6-1 margin a plan to rescind that.
The issue that has rippled across the country as nearly three dozen state legislatures have considered the situation has not been the validity of the vaccine or the goal of reducing cervical cancer, but requiring schoolgirls to be vaccinated against a disease that is transmitted by sexual contact.
