Apr 27, 2023 07:00 AM
(This post was last modified: Apr 27, 2023 05:50 PM by C C.)
Thank goodness this epidemic is sex practice related. They'll never shut countries down over that.
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https://theconversation.com/oral-sex-is-...cer-204063
INTRO: Over the past two decades, there has been a rapid increase in throat cancer in the west, to the extent that some have called it an epidemic. This has been due to a large rise in a specific type of throat cancer called oropharyngeal cancer (the area of the tonsils and back of the throat). The main cause of this cancer is the human papillomavirus (HPV), which are also the main cause of cancer of the cervix. Oropharyngeal cancer has now become more common than cervical cancer in the US and the UK.
HPV is sexually transmitted. For oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor is the number of lifetime sexual partners, especially oral sex. Those with six or more lifetime oral-sex partners are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not practise oral sex.
Behavioural trends studies show that oral sex is very prevalent in some countries. In a study that my colleagues and I conducted in almost 1,000 people having tonsillectomy for non-cancer reasons in the UK, 80% of adults reported practising oral sex at some point in their lives. Yet, mercifully, only a small number of those people develop oropharyngeal cancer. Why that is, is not clear.
The prevailing theory is that most of us catch HPV infections and are able to clear them completely. However, a small number of people are not able to get rid of the infection, maybe due to a defect in a particular aspect of their immune system. In those patients, the virus is able to replicate continuously, and over time integrates at random positions into the host’s DNA, some of which can cause the host cells to become cancerous... (MORE - details)
Journalistic nostalgia feebly yearning for those good old days of businesses and society being closed?
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What to know about XBB.1.16, the 'Arcturus' variant
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-ne...-rcna81572
EXCERPTS: A new Covid variant is spreading in the U.S., but will it cause a surge in cases?
XBB.1.16 — dubbed “Arcturus” on social media — is another descendant of omicron. It was first detected in early January and the majority of cases have been seen in India so far. It’s been steadily rising in the U.S. in recent weeks, although it still made up slightly less than 10% of new confirmed Covid cases as of Saturday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[...] XBB.1.16 doesn’t appear to be making people sicker than earlier omicron strains, according to Dr. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program.
“To my knowledge, we’re not seeing a different spectrum of symptoms or severity associated with this variant of interest,” Ryan said during a media briefing last week.
Some news reports have mentioned that XBB.1.16 infection causes a “new” symptom — conjunctivitis, or pink eye — though the WHO noted that this symptom was already known to be associated with Covid. As early as the spring of 2020 there were reports of itchy, sore eyes in Covid patients. In May 2020, the American Academy of Ophthalmologists noted that mild conjunctivitis could be a symptom of Covid... (MORE - missing details)
- - - - - - -
https://theconversation.com/oral-sex-is-...cer-204063
INTRO: Over the past two decades, there has been a rapid increase in throat cancer in the west, to the extent that some have called it an epidemic. This has been due to a large rise in a specific type of throat cancer called oropharyngeal cancer (the area of the tonsils and back of the throat). The main cause of this cancer is the human papillomavirus (HPV), which are also the main cause of cancer of the cervix. Oropharyngeal cancer has now become more common than cervical cancer in the US and the UK.
HPV is sexually transmitted. For oropharyngeal cancer, the main risk factor is the number of lifetime sexual partners, especially oral sex. Those with six or more lifetime oral-sex partners are 8.5 times more likely to develop oropharyngeal cancer than those who do not practise oral sex.
Behavioural trends studies show that oral sex is very prevalent in some countries. In a study that my colleagues and I conducted in almost 1,000 people having tonsillectomy for non-cancer reasons in the UK, 80% of adults reported practising oral sex at some point in their lives. Yet, mercifully, only a small number of those people develop oropharyngeal cancer. Why that is, is not clear.
The prevailing theory is that most of us catch HPV infections and are able to clear them completely. However, a small number of people are not able to get rid of the infection, maybe due to a defect in a particular aspect of their immune system. In those patients, the virus is able to replicate continuously, and over time integrates at random positions into the host’s DNA, some of which can cause the host cells to become cancerous... (MORE - details)
Journalistic nostalgia feebly yearning for those good old days of businesses and society being closed?
- - - - - - - -
What to know about XBB.1.16, the 'Arcturus' variant
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-ne...-rcna81572
EXCERPTS: A new Covid variant is spreading in the U.S., but will it cause a surge in cases?
XBB.1.16 — dubbed “Arcturus” on social media — is another descendant of omicron. It was first detected in early January and the majority of cases have been seen in India so far. It’s been steadily rising in the U.S. in recent weeks, although it still made up slightly less than 10% of new confirmed Covid cases as of Saturday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[...] XBB.1.16 doesn’t appear to be making people sicker than earlier omicron strains, according to Dr. Mike Ryan, the executive director of the WHO’s health emergencies program.
“To my knowledge, we’re not seeing a different spectrum of symptoms or severity associated with this variant of interest,” Ryan said during a media briefing last week.
Some news reports have mentioned that XBB.1.16 infection causes a “new” symptom — conjunctivitis, or pink eye — though the WHO noted that this symptom was already known to be associated with Covid. As early as the spring of 2020 there were reports of itchy, sore eyes in Covid patients. In May 2020, the American Academy of Ophthalmologists noted that mild conjunctivitis could be a symptom of Covid... (MORE - missing details)
