cancer

UNAIDS and IAEA forge a powerful partnership against the interlinked diseases of cervical cancer and HIV

UNAIDS and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have joined forces to increase action against cervical cancer and HIV. In a memorandum of understanding signed following an event to mark World Cancer Day at the headquarters of IAEA in Vienna, Austria, the two organizations pledged to scale up and expand services for adolescent girls and women affected by the two diseases.   

Health considerations for transgender women and remaining unknowns: a narrative review

In this narrative review, we aim to comprehensively summarize health considerations for transgender women and identify transgender women-related research areas that will provide answers to remaining unknowns surrounding trans women’s health.

Oral sex can raise risk for head and neck cancer by seven times

Oral sex can spread viruses that can cause head and neck cancers, according to a new study. The research shows a strong connection between the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can be spread through oral sex, and head and neck cancer. The virus can raise the risk of getting head and neck cancer by as much as seven times, and maybe by far more, scientists say. The study involved nearly 97,000 people in two studies, according to the researchers.

HPV accounts for 70% of head and neck cancer, according to experts. It is so prevalent that by 2020 it is predicted to beat cervical cancer as the main cancer caused by HPV.

Head and neck cancers were long thought to have been caused by smoking and drinking. But a sharp rise in the number of cases led doctors to speculate that there may be another cause, and the new study is the first to show conclusively that HPV-16 precedes the development of those cancers. The research, conducted by scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, was published in 'JAMA Oncology'.   Read more via the Independent 

UK: Nobel scientist calls for HPV vaccination for boys

The UK should vaccinate all boys against the cancer-causing human papilloma virus, Professor Harald zur Hausen, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who discovered the link between HPV and cancer has said. There is now a wealth of evidence that HPV also causes cancers in men, including anal, penile and throat cancer. Professor zur Hausen added that there was now a chance to “eradicate” HPV viruses altogether if the world developed global vaccination programmes for all children.

Since 2008 the UK has offered free vaccinations against HPV to girls aged 12 to 13 – a programme that had an almost 87% uptake from 2013 to 2014 and has led to falls in the number of pre-cancerous abnormalities of the cervix, according to research. Scientists say changes in sexual behaviour – with more couples having oral and anal sex – may be the cause of increased cases of anal and throat cancers in both men and women in recent decades. Read More