Long-Term Partners of Those With HPV Not Likely to be Infected

Here's some good news (if you can call it that).  If your partner has oral cancer linked to the 
human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. there's a good chance you will not be affected.

A new study has found that partners of patients diagnosed with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer were no more likely to test positive for oral HPV infection than people in the general population, according to newswise.com.

"The findings should lessen anxiety that (this) cancer is contagious, at least among long-term partners, and confirms that couples who have been together for several years do not need to change their intimacy or sexual behavior because of the cancer diagnosis," the Web site reports.

HPV infection is common among men and women in the U.S., but the overwhelming majority of individuals with the infection will not get cancer. The incidence of HPV-positive head and neck cancers, however, has increased significantly over the past 20 years, particularly among non-Hispanic, white U.S. men.
Michael Douglas brought attention to this type of cancer when he confessed that his sexual practices might have led to his developing the cancer.
“Couples who have been together for several years have likely already shared whatever infections they have and no changes in their physical intimacy are needed," says lead study author Gypsyamber D’Souza, PhD, MPH, MS, an associate professor of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, at newswise.com. 
Research is showing, however, that male partners of women with cervical cancer have a two-fold increased risk of this cancer, 



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