Oral sex can lead to cancer

The sexual habits of Danish men explain why they are increasingly being diagnosed with HPV-caused oral cancer

Increasing numbers of Danish men are being diagnosed with HPV-caused oral cancer, DR reports. And a specialist believes there is a strong possibility it is linked to oral sex.

According to the data from the University of Aarhus, 243 men were diagnosed with oral cancer due to HPV (transmitted human papillomaviruses) in 2013. 

Mostly, it is their tonsils that are infected.

Watch your sexual habits
Pernille Lassen, a doctor at the Department of Clinical Medicine, believes sexual habits are partly to blame.

"The number of different sexual partners and particularly oral sex, one could suspect, increase the risk of infection," Lassen told the broadcaster. 

Research is still new
The Danish Cancer Society (Kræftens Bekæmpelse) warns that oral sex increases the risk of HPV infection.  

Although the research is still very new, the organisation suggests HPV can also be transmitted through mouth-to-mouth contact. 

Not all HPV causes cancer
However, not everyone infected with HPV will develop cancer. 

As Rigshospital explains on its website, most sexually active men and women will, at some point  in their life, get infected by HPV without serious repercussions.





  • How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    Being part of a trade union is a long-established norm for Danes. But many internationals do not join unions – instead enduring workers’ rights violations. Find out how joining a union could benefit you, and how to go about it.

  • Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals are overrepresented in the lowest-paid fields of agriculture, transport, cleaning, hotels and restaurants, and construction – industries that classically lack collective agreements. A new analysis from the Workers’ Union’s Business Council suggests that internationals rarely join trade unions – but if they did, it would generate better industry standards.

  • Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    The numbers are especially striking amongst the 3,477 business and economics students polled, of whom 31 percent elected Novo Nordisk as their favorite, compared with 20 percent last year.