- LONDON (Reuters) - Although
the risk is small and it is more likely to result from heavy drinking and
smoking, scientists have uncovered evidence that oral sex can cause mouth
cancer.
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- Researchers had suspected that a sexually transmitted
infection that is linked to cervical cancer could also be associated with
tumors in the mouth.
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- Now a study by researchers working for the International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France seems to have confirmed
it.
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- "Oral sex can lead to oral tumors," New Scientist
magazine said Wednesday, referring to the latest research.
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- The scientists studied more than 1,600 patients from
Europe, Canada, Australia, Cuba and the Sudan with oral cancer and more
than 1,700 healthy people.
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- They found that patients with oral cancer containing
a strain of the human papilloma virus (HPV) known as HPV16 were three times
more likely to report having had oral sex than those without the virus
strain.
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- "The researchers think both cunnilingus and fellatio
can infect people's mouths," the magazine added.
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- Raphael Viscidi, a virologist who worked on the research,
believes the findings substantiate the link between HPV and oral cancer.
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- "This is a major study in terms of size," he
said. "I think this will convince people."
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- High consumptions of alcohol and cigarettes are estimated
to cause 75-90 percent of all cases of oral cancer. The combination of
tobacco smoke and alcohol are thought to produce high levels of cancer
causing agents.
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- Scientists are currently working on vaccines to prevent
cervical cancer, which is more common, but they might also be effective
against oral cancer.
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- "It is thought the vaccines would prevent oral infections
as well," the magazine added.
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