Michael Douglas' recent interview with a British newspaper in which the actor said his particular kind of throat cancer was caused by oral sex will raise much needed awareness on an increasing public health risk, physicians said Monday.
"With throat cancer, the traditional risk factors were drinking and smoking," said Dr. Warren Line, an ear nose and throat specialist at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.
"As people were smoking less, we saw decreasing rates. And then we saw an increase."
Line and others said that more than 50 percent of fresh throat cancers are linked to the human papillomavirus, known as HPV. It is the most commonly transmitted infection in the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although smoking is still a risk factor, "the association between HPV with oral sex was pretty clear," Line said.
The increase in the last several years is especially prevalent among non-Hispanic white men, he added.
There are 13 out of more than 100 types of HPV that can cause cancer, including cervical cancer, according to the CDC. But, in recent years, physicians have seen more cancers found in the vulva, vagina, penis, anus and oropharynix, which includes the back of the throat.
The CDC estimates that more than 2,370 new cases of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers are diagnosed in women and nearly 9,356 are diagnosed in men each year in the United States. "The types of HPV that can cause genital warts are not the same as the types that can cause cancer," according to the CDC.
While most HPV does not cause cancer and can even clear up by itself within two years of transmission, health experts said Douglas' interview can help"¨raise awareness toward prevention efforts, especially vaccines available"¨to both young girls and boys.
"This will make parents more aware of the benefits of HPV vaccines," said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Anytime people talk about sexuality it's a good thing. People are sexual beings. But they should know the risk of sexual activities, prevention and intervention."
