Michael Douglas blames oral sex for throat cancer

dr_mabeuse

seduce the mind
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From Yahoo news

LONDON (AP) — Actor Michael Douglas says that his throat cancer was caused by a virus he contracted by performing oral sex on women — a claim that a doctor called dubious.

The Guardian newspaper published an interview Monday in which Douglas blamed cunnilingus for the grave malady that was diagnosed in 2010.
The 68-year-old Douglas has been free of cancer for more than two years after receiving extensive chemotherapy and has returned to acting.

Douglas has starred in many movies, including "Basic Instinct" and "Fatal Attraction." He is currently appearing in an acclaimed biopic about Liberace.
He told the newspaper his cancer had been caused by having contracted the human papillomavirus (HPV), which he said led to cancer.

"It's a sexually transmitted disease," Douglas said of the virus.

Dr. Michael Brady, who specializes in sexual health as medical director of the Terrence Higgins Trust, told The Associated Press that oral sex could have contributed to Douglas's cancer but that it was difficult to pinpoint a single cause.

He pointed out that Douglas had been a smoker and a drinker, two factors that he said are the most common causes of oral cancer.

"There are often a number of factors, genetic, environmental, viral, that could be playing a role," he said.

Brady said there are hundreds of different types of HPV virus and that in most cases it is not harmful. The risk is so low, he said, that he does not believe people should worry or change their sexual practices.

Doctors estimate up to about one third of mouth and throat cancers are HPV-related and that the types of HPV found in the mouth are likely to have been caused by oral sex. Still, most high-risk HPV types are linked to genital cancers. For some oral cancers, certain sexual behaviors, like having oral sex with four or more people in your lifetime, can raise the risk, according to Britain's Department of Health. Oral cancers caused by HPV are most common in straight men in their 40s and 50s.

Douglas is married to the actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.

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Best comment: "Everyone always blames Bush."
 
I think it might have more to do with where Michael played in his early days.
 
I'm delighted that he's come forward. HPV-triggered cancers are NOT just a woman's problem. If you have children who aren't sexually active yet, of either gender, PLEASE get them vaccinated!
 
From Yahoo news

LONDON (AP) — Actor Michael Douglas says that his throat cancer was caused by a virus he contracted by performing oral sex on women — a claim that a doctor called dubious.

For me that falls into "it's possible but how would you know for sure?" territory.

In other coverage I've seen him claim that cunnilingus is also the cure (um, no - although maybe it was an attempt at a joke that the reporter didn't get) and that because it was caused by HPV, it had nothing to do with smoking and drinking.

Which is bullshit. Cancers can have more than one cause; some risk factors are much worse in combination than individually. And smoking/excessive drinking will increase your risk of just about any cancer you care to name.
 
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