Oral sex cancer threat

Popular Jamaican actor Garfield 'Bad Boy Trevor' Reid, who is known for his public endorsements of oral sex, said he is not bothered by a recent report in the UK's Daily Mail that says the US and UK are suffering from a throat cancer 'epidemic'.

Experts have identified oral sex as the main cause, with Dr Hisham Mehanna of the UK's University of Birmingham stating in a recent study that 70 per cent of throat cancers are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV). Mehanna explained that people who have multiple oral sex partners have up to a nine-fold increased risk of suffering throat cancer.

However, Reid does not think the report will deter Jamaicans despite the act still being seen as taboo in certain quarters.

"It is more common now and sooner or later people going to have to talk about it. When I host a show, I asked all the ladies in the room who get oral sex to scream and the whole club scream. When I ask all the man dem who don't do those things to buss a blank, all of dem buss blank. So somebody is lying," Reid told TH E WEEKEND STAR.

He, however, acknowledged that the practice of having multiple oral sex partners was unsafe and advised persons to be more cautious.

"This [report] is not for the ones who are keeping these things [oral sex] in the confines of their own relationships with just their one sex partner," he added.

Reid also blasted individuals who were still bashing the sexual act as hypocrites.

"If the women lick out against it, then I would understand. But is men licking out against it and why would a man have a problem with a next man's sexual choice with a woman? It is a hypocritical thing," he said.

Medical doctor Dr Alfred Dawes told THE WEEKEND STAR that patients between the ages of 50-80, particularly men, were more likely to be diagnosed with the viral infection.

"Some of the precautions that are advised include dental dams and using condoms. We are not seeing anything of the sort in Jamaica in terms of a significant increase in throat cancers, but we do have to take note that this thing may take years to develop. The virus is usually more present in older persons after years of practising oral sex," said Dawes.

He said that the situation was a serious cause for concern although the phenomenon may not be an immediate threat in Jamaica.

"Some of these viruses [HPVs] can affect the oral cavity, the tonsils, the back of the throat itself," he said. "We do know that HPV is in Jamaica. We do know that it is prevalent because of the high incidents of cervical cancer in Jamaica, and the fact we have low vaccination rates against the HPV viruses, which the vaccines are recommended from as soon as you start to have sexual intercourse, or even in some persons before."

"I don't think we have had any studies to see how many of the oral stereotypes that infect the throat and tonsils are present in the population but we are all at risk. The higher the number of sexual partners then the greater the risk of getting this infection, which is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection," he added.