As cervical cancer rates fall, HPV is causing more throat and mouth cancers in men — why?

 HPV vaccination is helping knock back cervical cancer rates, but meanwhile, mouth and throat cancers caused by the virus are up in men. Here's what to know.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is causing more throat and mouth cancers (oropharyngeal cancers) in men primarily because of biological differences in how men handle the virus, changes in sexual practices, and a long latency period—while cervical cancer rates drop due to successful screening and vaccination in women. 

Why Men Are More Affected

• Higher Infection Rates: Men have a higher prevalence of oral HPV infections and are less effective at clearing the virus naturally compared to women. 
• Anatomical and Immune Factors: The tissue in the back of the throat, including the tonsils and base of the tongue, has deep crevices that trap the virus. Men's immune systems also tend to clear oral HPV slower. 
• Shifting Sexual Practices: Increased rates of transmission via oral sex over recent decades have led to higher exposure to high-risk strains like HPV-16.
• Decades-Long Latency: HPV can lie dormant in throat cells for 20 to 30 years. The men diagnosed today (mostly middle-aged and older) were exposed decades ago, long before HPV vaccines existed. 

Why Cervical Cancer Rates Are Falling

• Routine Screening: Pap smears and HPV testing allow doctors to catch and treat precancerous cervical changes in women before they turn into cancer. 
• Targeted Vaccination: Widespread HPV vaccination programs have heavily driven down cervical cancer rates in women, but older cohorts of men missed out on these vaccines when they were young. Unlike women, there is also no routine, effective screening test for throat and mouth cancer

 

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Cervical cancer screening is about to change as cases rise among young women. Here's what you should know.

• New testing options could make it easier to screen for the most common cause of cervical cancer.
• An FDA-approved kit could allow for testing without a pap smear or pelvic exam.
• The shift is among medical innovations aiming to curb the rising number of early-onset cancers.

People will soon be able to collect their own samples for cervical cancer screening, according to a major new update to the American Cancer Society's screening guidelines.

It's the biggest shift in cervical cancer prevention since HPV testing became the preferred alternative to routine pap smears in 2014.

The new guidance allows patients to swab themselves to test for human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection that is the primary cause of cervical cancer.

Cervical rates are rising, particularly in younger people, and screening has declined in recent years.

The hope is that this change — part of a broader trend in healthcare making preventive care simpler — will help to catch more cases by speeding up screening.

While the American Cancer Society (ACS) does not dictate federal screening rules, its guidelines are widely used by oncologists and health systems, often paving the way for formal policy changes.

New technology is helping cancer screening to "evolve," said Dr. Robert Smith, senior author of the report and epidemiologist at the ACS.

"These updated recommendations will help to improve compliance with screening and reduce the risk of cervical cancer," Smith said in a press release.

Screening is crucial for cancer prevention

Cervical cancer is among the most preventable — and treatable — types of cancer, thanks to HPV vaccinations and routine screening. But rates of both have dropped in recent years, in part because the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted access to preventive care.

Until recently, HPV screenings meant booking an appointment with a clinician to collect a sample and do a pelvic exam.

That shifted in 2024, when the FDA green-lit testing for self-collected samples, initially in healthcare settings like primary care offices or mobile health clinics. This year, the agency went a step further, approving  at-home test options with tele-health support.

Research suggests the testing results for self-collected samples are on par with those collected by physicians when it comes to screening for HPV. Some data found they're slightly less accurate, which is why some doctors still prefer clinical samples when possible, according to the ACS.

Still, having an alternative to pelvic exams could increase HPV screening for people who may find it hard to get an appointment due lack of insurance, long wait lists, or logistical hurdles like scheduling, transportation, or childcare.

Self-collection could also increase testing rates for people who may find a pelvic exam intimidating or uncomfortable, whether due to past trauma, medical anxiety, or simply personal preference.

In Australia, where self-collection for HPV became widely available in 2022, rates of cervical cancer have declined, and screening has increased among patients who had previously not been tested.

How it works

Kits for self-collecting samples for HPV testing are available now via prescription from your doctor (or in some cases, through a virtual appointment, depending on what state you live in).

Using the kit is fairly straightforward: you use a device that looks like a large Q-tip or tampon to swab the vagina for a sample, then send that sample to a lab for screening. If the results are negative, you don't need to get an in-person Pap smear.

For certain abnormal results, the next step may be a clinician-collected sample, or another HPV screening in one to three years, according to NIH guidelines.

The current guidelines recommend starting cervical screening at age 25 for people of average risk, and that HPV testing be done every five years through age 65. The full screening guideline updates were published in the American Cancer Society's CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    

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https://GSiyers home remedies.blogspot.com   is the latest addition to my blogs