Researchers blame HPV for rise in throat cancer [Veterans of swinging sixties may pay for free love]

Chicago Tribune ^ | June 8, 2008 | Jeremy Manier

[Gondring]

FOR five gruelling months, Carol Kanga suffered through treatment for a life-threatening case of throat cancer linked to an unlikely source: a sexually transmitted viral infection.

Unable to swallow food or water during chemotherapy and radiation treatment, Kanga was fed through a stomach tube.

"The radiation basically burns the skin off the outside and inside of your throat," said Kanga, 52. "It's like there's a fire inside your neck."

Kanga's treatment was successful, but the virus that struck her is causing increasing concern among some researchers who think it is causing a small-scale epidemic of throat cancer.

That virus, scientists have proved only in the past two years, is human papillomavirus, or HPV, the virus behind most cases of cervical cancer.

The HPV infections probably took root decades ago as the baby boomers were reaching adulthood, and only now are spurring a rise in throat cancer cases, mostly among men and women in their 50s.

No one understands the precise reason for the increase, though experts suspect it is linked to changes in sexual practices that emerged in the 1960s and '70s. For example, oral sex is a known risk factor for HPV-related throat cancers, and studies have shown that people who have come of age since the 1950s are more likely to have engaged in oral sex than those who were born earlier.

[...]

The virus targets a specific portion of the upper throat called the oropharynx, which includes the tonsils and base of the tongue. [...]

[Gondring]

But you know all this just makes one wonder how many other cancers are caused by viral infections.

I think you're on the right track. I think we're not done with finding these links.

[GOPyouth]

It must suck to get HPV. (ta-doop-chish!)

[tbw2]

Now doing a Lewinsky can kill you - but it may take a couple decades.
And clearly oral sex is NOT safe.

[MarkL]

When will we read that it is more common in queers or will we ever see the truth?

My guess is that it's probably extremely rare in homosexual men, since HPV is a virus that infects women, though men can carry it from one woman to another.

Mark

[B4Ranch]

You would think that this would be a very common disease amongst hookers.

[traviskicks]

lawyers and the damn FDA

[Tainan]

Surprising as it may be, back in the mid-80's, a street cop I knew told me that he was seeing the beginning of this in the hookers he knew on the street. He had a pretty good rapport with a lot he had arrested over the years.
Several were telling him that they had been diagnosed with various throat problem that the Drs' had no idea what they were looking at. At that time I guess there was an explosion of new bugs hitting the street. Coupled with the then exploding 'crack whore' syndrome which was rising at that time it was a "fertile" breeding ground for those bugs and their fast mutating forms.
Some had even been diagnosed with throat cancer and other than the usual STDs there was no linking reason.
He told me he used tell this to the johns he picked up and watch their reactions....needless to say, he had a rather weird sense of humor.

Seeing this thread brought him and his story to mind.

[B4Ranch]

Go out in the rain and you’ll get wet, or so it’s said.

[Tainan]

And remember..."Be careful where you put that thing."

[CarrotAndStick]

Interesting, thanks!

From the link:

Can males use Gardasil?

Gardasil is not approved for use in males, but the manufacturer currently has a study underway to see if it is safe and effective for them. Once the study is complete and submitted to FDA, the agency will review the data and decide whether to approve Gardasil for males.

[Jeff Chandler]

Comment #31 Removed by Moderator

[Straight Vermonter]

...this just makes one wonder how many other cancers are caused by viral infections.

And autoimmune diseases and on and on.

[socialismisinsidious]

Thanks for the ping to the article on herpes and brain cancer.

Not exactly true. The herpes you are thinking of is in the same family as CMV but they are not the same virus. CMV is very common and in fact infects most people but it rarely causes illness. Most people have been exposed to CMV by the time they reach adult hood. CMV, Chicken pox, mono, and Herpes I (mouth) and Herpes II (genital) are all in the same family. That other story/headline was highly misleading.

[hocndoc]

The information on HPV is growing. There’s a link to lung cancer in non-smokers, anal cancer (the gays are pushing for us to begin to do anal pap smears on gay men), and throat cancers in men and women.

There’s no much penile cancer at all in the US, GloriaJane. That is probably what you heard. It’s believed that the high incidence of circumcision, that leads to the development of different sort of cells exposed, is the reason.

That’s probably also the reason that there’s less oral cancer than might be expected: the mouth is set up to protect us from infections (at least better than the vagina).

[GloriaJane]

Thanks for the info. Very informative

[a fool in paradise]

Now that the HPV vaccine is out, they love to talk about it, but then there's this discovery!

It's been known that men can contract throat cancer and testicular cancer from HPV. But it was downplayed so that government could politicize the HPV vaccines as a "women's issue" (uterine cancer).