Women who have more sexual partners are less likely to have oral cancer

Courtesy of news Naija, Read :

– Researchers say they may develop a better immunity to
oral HPV strain
– This is a common STI which can lead to different types
of cancer
Women who have sex with with lots of partners are less
likely to get cancer of the mouth and throat. Unfortunately,
the same sexual behaviour is dangerous for men — the
more oral sexual partners they have the more chances
they develop throat, neck, head and other cancers .
These cancers are linked to the human papillomavirus
(HPV), which is the most common infection transmitted
through sexual contact. Researchers released this
information at the annual conference of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science in
Washington.

They also found that middle aged white men are at
particularly high risk compared to other races. Dr
Gypsyamber D'Souza, the associate professor at
Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health, explained the findings:
"Performing oral sex is very common among men and
women but there are stark differences in oral HPV infection
and the rate of cancer. Comparing men and women with the
same number of sex partners, a man is much more likely to
get infected with oral HPV than a woman.
Women that had a lot of previous sexual partners were
actually less likely to get infected with an oral HPV
infection. They may mount a more robust immune response
and be less likely to become infected. It seems that for men
this immune response is likely smaller.
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Men are not only more likely to become infected, but our
research also shows that once infected they are less likely
to clear these infections than women, further contributing
for the cancer risk."
To put it simply, those women who have a greater number
of vaginal sex partners mount an immune response to
vaginal HPV virus, thus preventing the body from
catching an oral HPV that could trigger various types of
cancer.