Imagine somebody having a seemingly normal sore throat, going to the doctor and discovering that it is not the common cold but rather Stage 2 cancer on the tonsil. Perhaps this was one of those pack-a-day smokers or somebody a bit older who smoked heavily in their early years? Not in this case. Thirty eight year old waitress Teresa Dillon says, “People think the face of oral cancer is a 70-year-old man who’s been chewing tobacco and drinking whiskey all his life, but the face of oral cancer now is — it’s me, a young woman, healthy, nonsmoking, fit.” What makes this case even more surprising is that her physicians have theorized it may have been the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus that may have caused the cancer.
Researchers from John Hopkins have discovered that between the years 1973 and 2004 the number of oral cancer cases that have ties to HPV amongst patients in their 40s has gone up almost 100%. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society, of the almost 35,000 cases of oral cancer today, nearly 40% of those have ties to HPV. States Dr. Robert Haddad, head and neck surgeon, “These are patients that are young. They are in their 30s and 40s. They are nonsmokers, and they don’t drink alcohol excessively. And every time we look we are able to find HPV-16 in their tissue, in the biopsy specimen.” HPV is contracted by having direct contact with the source and it causes the virus to attach to the source of contact; thus, HPV does not actually pass through the blood. Instead, proteins within HPV wreak havoc on healthy cells in that area. These once-healthy cells find themselves without the capacity to repair the damage and they begin to replicate uncontrollably. Researchers have made the natural leap to deduce that HPV is found in the mouths and throats of these patients due to oral sex or even mouth-to-mouth contact, and the only way to clear up HPV is with drug treatment.
Further research has found that both men and women are at risk for oral cancer due to HPV, but the risk is approximately 35% more likely for men. Engaging in risky sex, especially having sex with many partners, makes contracting HPV much more likely; however, Dr. Maura Gillison who works at the John Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center states, “That doesn’t mean it’s a magic number. Unfortunately, it only takes exposure to one infected partner to actually acquire the infection.” What makes these cases even more frightening is that much of today’s youth feel that oral sex is a “safe” and less risky alternative to vaginal sex, according to a recent study found in the Journal of Pediatrics. Not surprisingly, contracting the virus usually occurs as a young adult. Haddad states, “I think it’s obvious right now to really say that oral sex is not a safe way of having sex and it could have consequences.” After all, we don’t really see many media outlets or newspaper articles talking about the high risk of oral sex as we do with vaginal sex. Today Teresa Dillon is in remission from her cancer and she only wishes she knew as a teenager what she knows now. From someone who has been there, she warns other teenagers, “You have to be careful. Know who you’re with and you have to take precautions. You need to educate yourself. You need to know what’s going on.”
译文:
口交与癌症
想象一下，有人看起来似乎是一般地喉咙痛，但是去看了医生之后发现那并不是感冒引起的，而是扁桃体癌症二期了。或许这是发生那些一天一包烟的烟民或者是早年抽烟抽得很厉害的老烟民的身上。但是这个患者却不在此列。38岁的服务生特里萨.狄龙说：“人们认为只有一个一生不断抽烟喝酒的70岁老人才会得口腔癌，但是现在得这种病的—是我，一个年轻的女人，健康、不吸烟。”然而更让人吃惊的是她的内科医生推测说可能是因为性传染人类的乳头瘤病毒而引起的。
研究员约翰.霍普金斯发现在1973年到2004年间口腔癌病例中，40多岁的患者中与感染HPV（人乳头瘤病毒）有关系的几乎是100%。实际上，据美国癌症协会称，如今，35000个口腔癌病例中，接近40%的病历与人乳头瘤病毒有关。罗伯特.哈达德医生（主治头部和颈部），他说：“这些病人很年轻。他们大概30多岁和40多岁，他们不抽烟，不酗酒。但是，每次都会在他们的组织和活体样本里发现HPV-16。由于直接接触病源HPV或该病毒依附于病原体而感染的。实际上，HPV是不会通过血液传播的。相反的，HPV中的蛋白质在那个区域对健康的细胞进行破坏。一旦这些健康细胞无法修复，那么这些病毒就会不断的复制。研究人员已经取得飞跃性的推断，在这些病人的嘴巴和喉咙里发现了HPV 是由于口交或者接吻而引起的，唯一治疗的方法就是药物治疗。
进一步的研究发现因为HPV的缘故，男性和女性是发生口腔癌的危险人群，但是男性的危险系数接近35%。进行危险的性爱，特别是和许多不同的女性进行性爱，这样更容易感染HPV病毒；然而，约翰霍普金斯大学金梅尔癌症中心的毛拉.纪立生医生说：“这不是意味着它是一个幻数。不幸的是，只要接触一个已感染的性伴侣，就会受到感染。”更可怕的是如今大部分年轻人认为口交是一种“安全”，它是代替性交较安全的一种方法。这是根据美国儿科杂志最近研究发现的。不足为奇的是，感染这种病毒的通常是年轻人。哈达德说：“我认为很明显，真得有必要说口交不是性爱的一种安全的方式，而且会带来严重的后果。”毕竟，我们真得没看到过许多媒体和报纸文摘讨论过性爱的时候口交是很危险的事情。如今，特里萨.狄龙的癌症有所减轻，她只希望作为一个十几岁的少女要知道她现在知道的东西。以自己为例，警告其他十几岁的青少年：“你们必须小心，要知道你们和什么人在一起，而且一定要采取预防措施。你们一定要自我学相关知识。你们必须知道事情的发展。