The same virus that causes cervical cancer increases the risk of throat cancer for both men and women engaging in oral sex.

    BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhuanet) -- The same virus that causes cervical cancer increases the risk of throat cancer for both men and women engaging in oral sex, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine Thursday.

    The study, involving 100 people with throat cancer and 200 without it, found that those infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV) were 32 times as likely to develop one form of oral cancer than those free of the virus.

    "It makes it absolutely clear that oral HPV infection is a risk factor," said Maura L. Gillison, a Johns Hopkins oncologist and the senior author of the study.

    The research suggests that unprotected oral sex is a major reason people are contracting throat cancer -- not just smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, as previously believed.

    Gillison said the more oral-sex partners a person has, the greater the risk of contracting oral cancers (located in the tonsils, back of the tongue and throat). The good news is that the risk remains low over all.

    "There's been a kind of sea change in the last 10 years in who we're seeing with these cancers," Gillison said. "It makes sense with some changes we've seen in sexual behavior."

    But Gillison also stressed the immune system usually clears HPV on its own.

    "People should be reassured that oropharyngeal cancer is relatively uncommon, and the overwhelming majority of people with an oral HPV infection probably will not get throat cancer," Gillison said.

    (Agencies)