Falling for the allure of oral sex? Cancer lurks about

One of the biggest stories of last month came with a plethora of issues about it. First, it was the story of Michael Douglas, an octogenarian Hollywood star, whose revelation that he had contracted oral cancer not from smoking as many had known but from cunnilingus.Cunnilingus, or oral sex, has become a fad. When Douglas had looked into cameras as admitted that “without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus,” many people questioned his claims. But like The Guardian, UK, says, the world of sexually transmitted infections is being turned upside down by the growing popularity of oral sex. All kinds of infections usually considered in terms of genitals are increasingly colonising the mouth.Maurice Gatera, the head of Vaccine Preventable Diseases in the Ministry of Health, said HPV is a common virus. “There are about 100 types of HPV that affect different parts of the body. About 30 types of HPV can affect the genital, including the vulva, vagina, cervix, penis, and scrotum as well as the rectum and anus. Of those, about 13 types are considered high-risk because they lead to cervical cancer,” he says. Herpes, gonorrhoea, chlamydia, and, yes, the human papillomavirus—which is implicated in cervical cancer and can cause genital warts—can be transmitted through oral sex. Although the majority of the known types of HPV cause no symptoms in most people, both men and women are carriers of HPV. How can it be prevented? Rwanda launched a nationwide HPV vaccination programme for girls in 2011 to ensure that there will be generation of girls are safe from the cancer-causing virus. The first phase of the vaccination saw 100,000 girls aged 12-14 getting the vaccine three times in six months. Last year, a further 130,000 girls were vaccinated in the second phase of the programme. “Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women in Rwanda. We want to fight it from the young generation by ensuring that every girl child is vaccinated,” Gatera SAID. Gatera added that the vaccine provided little benefit to women having already been infected with HPV types 16 and 18, which includes most sexually active females. Test, screening and treatmentMedics say most HPV infections in young females are temporary and have little long-term significance. Seventy per cent of infections are gone in one year and 90 per cent in two years. However, when the infection persists in 5-10 per cent of infected women, there is high risk of developing precancerous lesions of the cervix, which can progress to invasive cervical cancer. Prof. Andrew Grulich, who heads the HIV epidemiology and prevention program run by the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales, says the majority of cancers in the back of the throat, the oropharynx in technical terms, are now caused by HPV.But it is not a simple case of “catching” cancer from cunnilingus. HPV is so ubiquitous it has been found in the mouths of newborn babies. And while many sexually active adults carry the virus, few develop cancer, according to The Guardian.