French kissing risky

Oral sex and open-mouthed "French" kissing increase the risk of acquiring oral infections of human papillomavirus, or HPV, a study shows.

Performing oral sex is not without risks and can be associated with gonorrheal pharyngitis, a sexually transmitted infection of the tonsils and back of the throat that immediately causes symptoms. Gillison says this infection is now linked with mouth HPV infections that are silent, yet may lead to oral cancer many years later.

Gillison from The Ohio State University, Columbus, and her colleagues explored whether sexual behaviours were associated with the odds of oral HPV infection in 332 adults and in 210 college-aged men. They found that 4.8% of the adults and 2.9% of college-aged men had oral HPV infection.

Smokers are more exposed

Among adults, the odds of oral HPV infection were significantly elevated among current tobacco smokers and among individuals who reported having either more than 10 oral, or more than 25 vaginal sex partners during their lifetime.

Similar risk factors applied to the college-aged men. For them, having at least six recent oral sex or open-mouthed kissing partners were independently associated with increased odds of developing oral HPV infection.

Higher number of partners increases the risk
For the 28% of college-aged men who reported never having performed oral sex, having at least 10 lifetime or at least five recent open-mouthed kissing partners was associated with a significantly higher risk of developing oral HPV infection.

"Our data suggest that oral HPV infections that could predispose to cancer may be transmitted by very common behaviours such as open-mouth or 'French' kissing," Gillison concluded.

Given that the HPV vaccine does not have any therapeutic value against pre-existing HPV infections, "this may be relevant to the timing of administration of vaccination," Gillison said.

Although the Centre for Disease Control recommends that the vaccine be administered between the ages of 9 and 12 ideally, in practice, it is often administered to girls between the age of 14 and 16. Oral exposure to HPV may have occurred prior to that age. - (Reuters Health, May 2009)

Read more:
A guide to safe oral sex
Oral sex and STIs