Michael Douglas is not alone. In a recent interview with Sirius XM, Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson talked through his recent battles with tongue cancer, and explained that he got it by contracting HPV through oral sex.
“It’s a virus. HPV — human papilloma virus. They all are. I’m almost willing to bet, anytime you hear about somebody who gets tonsil cancer, throat cancer, lung cancer, whatever it is, if they’re not heavy smokers and they’re not massive, heavy drinkers, it’s almost inevitably [HPV].”
The CDC has admitted that HPV can cause cells to grow abnormally, and has linked it to cervical cancers in women and oral cancers. Of course, HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, and getting HPV in your mouth would have to come from performing oral sex. While Michael Douglas was routinely made fun of for saying that his throat cancer was the result of oral sex, Dickinson says it’s time to get serious about the link between HPV and oral cancers.
“Everybody makes the jokes about Michael Douglas ’cause he was having oral sex, and it’s just, like, okay, we need to get over that one, guys, because this is kind of serious. There’s hundreds of thousands of people at risk for this. And guys should know, if you get a lump here, and you’re over 40, don’t just assume antibiotics will get rid of it. Go and properly get it checked out. It’s important.”
Check out the whole interview up top.
(Via Consequence of Sound)
