Brits Need To Learn About HPV Oral Cancer Risk
In recent years, studies have shown that HPV (the human papilloma virus) could be a major risk factor for oral cancer and a reason why the number of cases of the disease has increased significantly among young people; however, a new survey has revealed that most people are unaware that HPV has any link with cancer.
A survey involving more than 2,000 people confirmed that public awareness of the sexually transmitted infection is very low; 63% of people did not know that HPV was linked to oral sex and only 27.8% of participants were aware of the link between HPV and oral cancer. One in ten people also thought there was a link between Chlamydia and syphilis and oral cancer.
Although public knowledge about sexually transmitted infections has improved over the last decade, forty five per cent of people were unaware that HPV could be passed on through oral sex.
Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, said that more needs to be done to educate people about the connection between HPV and oral cancer; this is particularly important as the number of cases of oral cancer has increased considerably in the last ten years and more and more young people are being diagnosed with the disease. Experts believe that around 1 in 5 cases of oral cancer diagnosed in the UK are linked to HPV infection.
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