Experts say people with multiple partners were up almost nine times more likely to develop the cancer

Oral sex is stoking an “epidemic” of throat cancer, which is now more common than cervical cancer in the US and the UK, experts say.

A new study claims that this has prompted a large rise in a specific type of throat cancer called oropharyngeal cancer, which affects the area of the tonsils and back of the throat.

Dr Hisham Mehanna, from the UK’s University of Birmingham, said this was mainly caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), which is also the main cause of cancer of the cervix.

Dr Mehanna said people with multiple oral sex partners were up almost nine times more likely to develop the cancer.

Writing in The Conversation, Dr Mehanna said: “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.”

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