HPV-Linked Oral Cancers on the Rise, Study Finds Oral sex may be
means of tumor-causing virus transmission in many cases, experts
say By Serena Gordon MONDAY, Oct. 3 (HealthDay News) -- The rate
of oral cancers linked to the sexually transmitted human
papillomavirus (HPV) rose dramatically over two decades,
according to new government research. Within a decade, these
types of tumors might become the leading form of HPV-linked
cancers, the researchers noted. In the period between 1984 and
1989, just 16.3 percent of oral cancer samples tested positive
for HPV. By 2000 to 2004, that number had jumped to 72 percent,
the researchers found. "Back in 2008, we did a study and found
that the incidence rates of oropharyngeal cancers have
increased. Because this increase occurred in a period where
cigarette smoking has decreased, we hypothesized that another
risk factor -- perhaps HPV -- might be responsible," explained
the study's lead author, Anil Chaturvedi, an investigator in the
division of cancer epidemiology at t