The News:
Cervical-cancer virus linked to cancers in men
By Katy Human The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 05/06/2008 02:28:45 AM MDT
A sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer has been linked to cancers of the tonsil and tongue — diseases that have been on the rise in men for the past 30 years, according to a study by a Colorado Springs doctor and researcher.
Among Colorado men, such throat cancers have become 37 percent more common since 1980, compared with a national increase of 11 percent.
"Nobody knows that this is going on, and it's important to understand the risk," said Joel Ernster, a professor at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and principal author of the study, which appeared in the journal Laryngoscope.
The trends point to oral sex as a likely mode of transmission and have prompted some to call for boys to be vaccinated against the human papilloma virus, Ernster said.
Girls can already receive a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.
"Based on what they know right now, why the hell aren't they giving it to boys?" asked Jon Helander, 56, a patient of Ernster's in Colorado Springs.
Helander went through radiation and chemotherapy to fight a virus-related tongue cancer earlier this year and said he's frustrated that his son, 21, can't be vaccinated against the virus, as his daughter, 23, has been. Read on...
The Research:
Read the research by University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine researchers in the journal Laryngoscope.
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