A study of 100 women diagnosed with cancers at the back of the throat, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, has linked human papillomavirus (HPV) with throat cancer. It concluded oral HPV infection was associated with oropharyngeal cancer among people with or without the other risk factors of tobacco and alcohol use.

Infection with sexually transmitted HPV is a cause of virtually all cervical cancers.

The researchers from Johns Hopkins University also found a high lifetime number of oral sex or vaginal sex partners, engagement in casual sex, early age at first sexual encounter and infrequent use of condoms were associated with a strain of HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer. They conclude that the “widespread oral sexual practices among adolescents” may have contributed to a rise of this type of cancer in the US, and provide a rationale for HPV vaccination in both boys and girls.

Cancer Council Australia chief executive Ian Olver said there was a known association between throat cancer and HPV. But he said it remained rare and there was no evidence of it rising.

“Everyone that gets infected by HPV won’t go on to get throat cancer,” he said. The findings did not mean people should change their behaviour. “It would be like saying stop having sex or you’ll get cancer of the cervix. That doesn’t apply.”