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Oncologists Are Saying There Is Now A Throat Cancer "Epidemic," Because Oral Sex Is Out of Control

Daily Mail - Oncologists are increasingly looking at oral sex as a primary driver of an 'epidemic' of throat cancers. 

Rates of a specific type - known as oropharyngeal cancer - have been rising since the mid-2000s and its main cause is a sexually transmitted infection.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is usually linked to cervical cancer, which is why girls are vaccinated against it at a young age.

But oropharyngeal cancer has now become more common than cervical cancer in the US and the UK. And the number of lifetime sexual partners is the leading risk factor for this specific type of throat cancer. 

Dr Hisham Mehanna an oncologist at the UK’s University of Birmingham wrote in the Conversation that people with six or more oral sex partners in their lifetime are 8.5 times more likely to get the cancer than people who do not practice oral sex.

In a study by Dr Mehanna, he found that 80 percent of men and women practice oral sex at some point in their lives.

And surveys suggest that those rates are rising particularly among women.

First off, The Daily Mail did Katy Perry very dirty with that headline and tweet. 

Secondly, looks like good old HPV is branching out, trading in its usual stomping grounds "down there" for a new penthouse suite in your throat.  When you really think about it, fucking and sucking brings a shit load of risk to it. 

It turns out the more dicks you've sucked, or pussy you've licked, the higher your chances of scoring a nasty tumor. Oncologists are calling it an "epidemic," which sounds a tad dramatic, but hey, I'm no doctor.

Apparently, this whole thing kicked off in the mid-2000s, right around the time Crocs were trendy the first time – coincidence? I think not. Now, throat cancer has officially overtaken cervical cancer in the popularity contest nobody wants to win.

So, why are we seeing this surge in throat tango-induced tumors? Well, (according to the scientific Daily Mail article) besides the obvious increase in oral pleasure-seeking, it seems our immune systems are slacking.  Most of us can kick HPV to the curb without a second thought, but some folks have immune systems that are about as useful as a screen door on a submarine.  In those unlucky individuals, HPV throws a rager, replicates like crazy, and eventually crashes the host's DNA-

Writing in the Conversation, Dr Mehanna said: 'Yet, mercifully, only a small number of those people develop oropharyngeal cancer. Why that is, is not clear.

'The prevailing theory is that most of us catch HPV infections and are able to clear them completely. 

'However, a small number of people are not able to get rid of the infection, maybe due to a defect in a particular aspect of their immune system.

'In those patients, the virus is able to replicate continuously, and over time integrates at random positions into the host's DNA, some of which can cause the host cells to become cancerous.'

There is a highly effective vaccine for HPV, but in the US rates are considerably lower than the 85 percent needed to reach 'herd immunity', the term that means enough people have been made immune so that the virus cannot spread. 

Less than 60 percent of school children have received the HPV vaccine for various reasons including parental hesitancy and anti-vax sentiment.  

For some reason, when I read things like this, it makes me think back to the dark ages, Medieval Times - the period of history, not the dining and entertainment experience- and how the hell people back then managed. Like literally managed to do anything. Think about it. Makes you wonder how anyone back then was ever avle to get lucky and not die from some weird plague or infection.  I mean, no antibiotics, questionable hygiene...they were basically playing Russian roulette with every roll in the hay.  Maybe they just had stronger immune systems back then? Or maybe they were all walking around with sore throats and just didn't complain as much.  Either way, it makes you appreciate modern medicine, and penicilin, am I right?