Calls for teenage boys to be vaccinated against sexually transmitted virus after throat cancer cases double



There are around 200 types of human papilloma virus, of which around 40 are typically transmitted through sexual contact

Boys must be immunised against the most common sexually transmitted virus, health experts have said.

The call comes after figures revealed an alarming rise in cancer linked to oral sex in young men.



Cases of throat cancer have more than doubled to more than 1,000 a year since the mid-1990s. Previously the figure had been stable for many years.



More than 70 per cent of cases are caused by human papilloma virus, compared with less than a third a decade ago.



HPV, which can be transmitted during sex and open-mouth kissing, is the main cause of cervical cancer in women, with almost 3,000 women a year in the UK affected.



Since 2008 all girls aged 12 to 13 in the UK have been offered a vaccination to protect them from HPV. The decision not to give it to boys too was heavily criticised at the time.



Now specialists are urging the Department of Health to review its immunisation programme and offer boys the vaccine too, the Independent reports.



They say this would not only ensure both sexes are protected against throat cancer, but it would help reduce the risk of cervical cancer in girls and of other cancers caused by HPV.

Research suggests boys are more prone to get throat cancer from oral sex because the virus is found in higher concentrations in the female genital tract.



Cancer typically takes 20 to 30 years to develop and the rise in HPV-related throat cancer is being seen as the legacy of the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s.



The typical victim has also changed from older patients in lower socio-economic groups who smoked to those who are younger and middle class.



In 2006 Sophie Weisz was given the world's first cervical cancer vaccine. Now experts are saying boys must be immunised too

Experts say oral sex is seen by teenagers as safer than sexual intercourse as carrying no risk of pregnancy or infections.



The Department of Health requested the latest figures from Professor Hisham Mehanna, director of the Institute of Head and Neck Studies in Coventry, who has surveyed the incidence of HPV-related oropharyngeal (throat) cancer in the UK and other countries.



Professor Mehanna said: ‘We are experiencing a very significant rise in oropharyngeal cancer. It used to be rare in our practice – now it is the most common [head and neck] cancer we see. All the studies show there is a strong association with oral sex.’



He added: ‘What is striking about the cancer is that we are seeing it in younger patients. We regularly get people of 45 and sometimes in their 30s.

'Oropharyngeal cancer was stable until 1996 – then it very definitely took off. This tumour takes 20 to 30 years to develop – it is probably linked to the sexual revolution.'



In the mid-2000s The Department of Health decided to limit HPV vaccination to girls on the basis of the best estimates of HPV-related cancers at the time.

HPV vaccine Gardasil is given to girls aged 12 to 13 help protect against cervical cancer

But many argued that giving it to boys would reduce the prevalence of the infection by increasing ‘herd’ immunity, offer added protection to girls, and prevent genital warts and anal cancer in both sexes.

The department said vaccinating boys could not be justified on cost-benefit grounds – but that was before the scale of the rise in HPV-related throat cancer was known.

‘They asked for my data so they can look again at their assessment. There is definitely enough evidence to warrant looking at it again. The question is whether the new figures make it cost-effective [to extend the vaccination to boys].'

Professor Andy Hall, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said he had not seen the latest figures. 'Clearly a change in cancer is always a concern,' he said.

Professor David Salisbury, director of immunisation at the Department of Health, said: 'We asked the Health Protection Agency to look at HPV-related oral and throat cancers in 2011.