The Man’s Guide to HPV
Source: Men's HealthBy: Melaina Juntti What men can do about HPV Michael Douglas caught major flak for saying oral sex gave him throat cancer. But if you're laughing, it's time to grow up. Oral cancers caused by the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) have skyrocketed 225 percent in the past 15 years, with men accounting for 75 percent of all cases. The number-one culprit: HPV passed via oral sex. It used to be that cigarettes caused most of these cancers. But since smoking rates have plummeted over the past few decades, and we're having way more oral sex today than even our fathers' generation, HPV has become the most common STD in the U.S. – inevitably leading to more oral cancer cases. It only takes one time going down on someone to contract HPV, and experts estimate that 80 percent of us will be exposed to the virus at some point in our lives. This STD sometimes causes genital warts, but according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that's not very common. In most cases, HPV has no symptoms. And since no test exists to detect HPV in guys, you won't know you have the virus until years later – if it turns into cancer. "It's very hard to determine when you acquired HPV," says Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University. "It doesn't usually come from just one sexual episode. That said, every once in a while, cancer develops within [...]