Right.

Or you could just make sure all young men and boys get HPV shots too.

From an immunological perspective, that would be far wiser.

Click the Lick button on Facebook.

NewsFlash: BE SCARED OF SEX! YOU WILL GET MOUTH CANCER!!!! AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

I'm tired of scare tactics for everything that makes life bearable. If it's not religion sucking the fun out of life, it's science sucking the fun out of life!

What about finger cancer?! :(

Anyone who has had, or knows someone who has had, oral or throat cancer knows this isn't a joke or scare tactic. Just get the HPV vaccine for chrissake.

The HPV vaccine (gardisil) is only effective in people up to age 26 that haven't already been infected.

It also only protects against 4 types of HPV. There are currently more than 30 types documented.

Gardisil has not been demonstrated to be effective against throat and mouth cancer caused by HPV. This doesn't mean it isn't -- there just have been no studies showing this to be so.

By all means, everyone under 26 should receive gardisil. But don't think if you're 35, you can run out and get the vaccine.

@8

Healthcare providers are oddly stubborn about that arbitrary age cutoff too. My wife was two shots into her three-dose treatment when she turned 27, and she really had to fight to convince them to give her the final one.

@10 Yeah, it is arbitrary. In the US, males can receive it up to age 26, but in the UK only up to age 15. Probably not effective for population immunity past 15, but it seems odd.

Seems like they should have known she would have turned 27 before the third shot when they gave her the first one! GOSH

@9 Just because you've never gotten sex doesn't mean the rest of us should suffer. Poor thing.

See also the wonderful Dr. Jen Gunter:
http://drjengunter.wordpress.com/2013/06…

Short version: “Michael Douglas’s claim that “Oral sex caused my cancer” seems to gloss over the fact that he probably had oral sex with at least 6 partners, smoked a lot, and drank enough alcohol to need rehab.”

@8 — There are many types of HPV, but there are a small number of heavy hitters and they are the ones targeted by the vaccine:

“Gardasil is a vaccine for use in the prevention of certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV) specifically HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18. HPV types 16 and 18 cause an estimated 70% of cervical cancers, and are responsible for most HPV-induced anal, vulvar, vaginal, and penile cancer cases. HPV types 6 and 11 cause an estimated 90% of genital warts cases.”

Courtesy le Wik.

You can still get the other strains even when you’ve been vaccinated against the Big 4 but they are less common and/or less carcinogenic.

The 26 cutoff is based on epidemiological studies. Individual habits vary-- if you've never been exposed to the strains then getting then vaccine would make sense for you.

@10 depends on the provider and her/his comfort level with off-label prescribing. My PCP was OK prescribing Gardasil upon request even though I was well over 26 and have had hundreds of partners, and at the time it was not yet approved in males or any adults -- on the slight chance that perhaps I hadn't been exposed yet (I play safe for HIV exposure, of course). There is no scientific / medical harm from getting vaccinated even if one is older.

@15 -- not exactly. From a public health recommendation perspective, there is a very small probability of benefit later in life, but the epidemiology of no-benefit isn't that clear which is why the age limit has steadily been going up.

My PCPs willingness for Rx off-label was partly since the PCP wasn't worried I'd sue -- I'm in a health-allied field myself and we've known each other for years. Not sure if the provider would have been as OK if I was a "regular" patient (i.e. a potential lawsuit on legs).

@9: Yeah, because Mother Nature selects so strongly for abstinence and monogamy. Not to mention, attributing intent to natural selection is akin to not putting your ketchup in the fridge. I mean, this is 2013.

@21 You have something against foamy ketchup?

@22: I seriously hope you guys don't do this.

I'm sure that whatever Douglas actually said for publication, although probably not as crass as has been reported, thrilled his wife.

@24, you're freaking me out.

I think the media is wayyyy overanalyzing this. It's just Michael's way of putting out there that he is down with eating pussy. "Hey ladies, I'm so down with eating pussy and have eaten so much pussy it gave me throat cancer. So just in case you thought that Liberace role made me gay, i'm not, I'm a pussy eatin muthafucka, even in my twilight years." I'm sure he's being offered muff diving opportunities out the wazzooo since he said this. Besides, can you imagine what's it been like for him to be eating Catherine Zeta-Jones' bipolar hair pie all these years? Must be like going down on Regan MacNeil's possessed puss in the exorcist!

"Besides, can you imagine what's it been like for him to be eating Catherine Zeta-Jones' bipolar hair pie all these years?"

Interesting fact: bipolar disorder is not, in fact, a disorder of the genitals.

#29 for the win!

Michael Douglas is 68.

If I'm lucky enough to avoid dying of a heart attack (it runs in my family), or brain cancer, or stomach cancer, or pancreatic cancer, before then, then I would hope that the thing that kills me would actually have *something* to do with sex.

Because unlike the rest of the carcinogens that we put into our food and environment overall, sex is enough pleasure for it to actually be *worth* it. Hot dogs, not so much.

Thanks @18 for coming in here and setting the record straight.

I am also a male that got Gardasil off-label and well past age 15/26. I was persistent and got it on the fourth provider that I asked, and I got it covered by insurance but I would have happily paid out of pocket. $500 is dirt cheap compared to missing work due to having freaking *cancer*.

I'm not a medical provider but married one, and we're both baffled by why it was so hard for me to get the vaccine. The think the lawsuit threat for a vaccine is minimal; I just think providers are rigidly sticking to the CDC guidelines to be certain they get reimbursed by insurance. My HMO is outstanding, and I agree that it's unlikely that most insurances would have covered it.