Mouth and throat cancer is becoming a greater concern in the UK while in 21 years the rise of this disease has grown up to 50% and still continue to grow at an alarming rate of 3% every year for women. It is a growing epidemic which kills around 1,800 people a year, Cancer Research UK states. This disease has a mortality rate of over 50% despite early treatment and modern medical science.

Among top reasons for mouth & throat cancer there are smoking/chewing tobacco, alcohol consumption, un-healthy diets with high number of fats and surprisingly, oral sex. Moreover, it seems that those 3% risings for women are determined by oral sex. To be more specific, the virus that causes this is called the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which affects the skin and mucosal areas of the body such as mouth, throat, vagina, penis and anus. The HPV is transmitted through  sexual act and the risk of getting mouth & throat cancer seems to increase with the number of oral sex partners one has.

Giving the fact that oral sex is the most common mode for HPV to be transmitted, there are some measures that could lower the risk of getting this virus :

-          Using condoms is not benefic only as an HPV barrier but also for other diseases that transmit through sex

-          Not practicing anymore the oral sex is another measure people can take

-          Limiting the numbers of oral sex partners would be another method for lowering the risk of getting HPV

-          Vaccines can also protect young people from this virus but those must be done on earlier ages, 11-26 years old

The most common signs of HPV infection are genital warts appearing as a group of bumps in the genital area. Those come in different shapes, small, flat, large etc and CAN be treated. In fact, there is no treatment for this virus but there are treatments for the diseases it causes : genital warts and cervical cancer, if discovered early.

There are no medical tests that can reveal the presence of HPV in a body however as the genital warts are the most commong sign of infection they could be a good indication to visit a doctor. Also, there are numerous cases when people have lived with an HPV infection without causing health problems but this is not something one can rely upon.