Screening and the HPV vaccine have led to drops in cervical cancers over the last two decades in the U.S., a new study finds, but the gains are offset by a rise in other tumors caused by the virus.
Oral sex is helping fuel more cases of mouth and throat cancers in men. For older women, anal cancer and a rare type of rectal cancer caused by HPV may be more common than cervical cancers by 2025. “A common misperception is the HPV vaccine has solved the problem of HPV-associated cancers.
Unfortunately, that couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Dr. Maura Gillison of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, who was not involved in the study.