According to a commentary published this week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), despite a slight overall decrease in head and neck cancers worldwide, there has been a recent surge in one particular form of the disease—oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma—that may be due to the spread of the human papillomavirus (HPV) through oral sex. Dr. Hisham Mehanna, director of the Institute of Head and Neck Studies and Education at University Hospital in Coventry, as well as other cancer specialists, points to data showing that, in the U.S., there was little change in the incidence of this form of mouth cancer from 1975–1999, but between 1999 and 2006, cases of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma grew by 22%. Among men in the U.K., there was a 51% increase in this form of mouth cancer between 1989 and 2006.
