The February 2012 issue of Consumer Reports discusses
HPV and oral cancer. The CR medical advisor discusses why she had her two boys vaccinated with the HPV4 vaccine, Gardasil. I can't link thru the pay wall to the full article but here are excerpts
[quote]A few months ago, after a friend learned he had late-stage cancer of the base of the tongue and another friend died from the same disease, I knew it had to be more than a sad coincidence. Neither man was a smoker or regular alcohol drinker, two risk factors associated with squamous-cell carcinoma of the mouth and throat. That left one other likely, albeit less discussed, cause: infection with human papillomavirus, or
HPV.
Researchers are discovering that this virus, widely linked to cervical cancer and genital warts, also seems to greatly increase the risk of oropharyngeal cancers�malignancies of the tonsils, soft palate, throat, and base of the tongue. They�re more than twice as likely to occur in men as in women, and the number of cases is growing to the point that medical experts have begun referring to the problem as an epidemic.[/quote]
[quote]The presence of
HPV in mouth and throat tumors was around 16 percent in the 1980s, then it mushroomed to roughly 73 percent in the 2000s, according to an extensive review of data from three cancer registries in the Nov. 10, 2011, issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The authors of the study predict that by 2020, the number of
HPV-related mouth and throat cancers will surpass those of cervical cancer, currently the focus of
HPV vaccination. Middle-aged men appear to be at particular risk; the striking growth in oral cancer cases in the U.S. in recent years has been mainly in white men in their 50s and younger.
[/quote]
[quote]When you consider how alarmingly common
HPV infection is�at least 50 percent of sexually active men and women get it at some point in their lives, and about 20 million Americans are currently infected�it�s not hard to understand why health-care professionals have started throwing around the word �epidemic� in relation to the virus.[/quote]
It even ends up with great advice
[quote]Be sure that your regular dental visit includes an oral soft-tissue exam. Because the base of the tongue lacks pain fibers, tumors in this area often cause no symptoms until they�ve grown significantly.
Go to a doctor if you see or feel any suspicious, persistent lumps in your neck or if you experience difficulty swallowing, an unexplained weight loss, or pain in your mouth or ear.[/quote]
I know all this is old old news on OCF, but a lot more people pay for CR subscriptions: 7.3 Million for the print and another 1.2 Million for online (like myself). The only thing missing is a reference to OCF.
Charm
