Michael Douglas wasn't bragging, here's why sex can be unsafe

“Michael Douglas has struck a blow for oral sex” - said the The Guardian after publishing his interview in which he said that his throat cancer was caused by human papilloma virus (HPV) that he contracted through oral sex with women.His disclosure went viral along with the fear of cancer-risk among enthusiasts of oral sex. That a simple act of sexual intimacy, that flourished since the 1970s, can give you tumour in your throat and kill you was a terrible downer.On Google, he became near-synonymous with HPV, oral sex and oral/throat cancer.It’s general knowledge that HPV is real; that it can cause cancer and can be transmitted through sexual intercourse - among both in men and women. HPV primarily causes cervical cancer, which accounts for the highest incidence of cancer among women in India. In fact, one third of the cervical cancers in the world are in India.But did we know that it can also reach our throat and mouth and cause oral or throat cancer until Michael Douglas went public? And how did it reach there from its traditional reservoirs namely the vagina and the penis?[caption id="attachment_851751" align="alignleft" width="380"] With his disclosure Douglas has become synonymous with the topic of HPV causing cancer among men. Reuters[/caption]The actor was not making up a story for impact or blaming the women other than his wives, but was cautioning men that sex in the modern world is not without a price.At least in the US, HPV has surpassed tobacco and alcohol to become the leading cause of head and neck cancers among men. According to American Cancer Society and Centres for Disease Control (CDC), 72 per cent of the oral tumours, as in the case of Michael Douglas, in the US are caused by HPV.And men are three times more at risk than women and it is not easy to diagnose it among them.So Michael Douglas, despite his retraction later, had a point: oral sex is not that benign or safe. Was the man, who also once spoke for Viagra to translate into practice the sexual vigour in his head, trying to get some vicarious pleasure at the cost of others’ sexual despair?This is a terrible dilemma for sexual libertarians or even simple amateur home-birds. Does one go back to the ideal world of the long term, mutually monogamous relationships? What does one do if even what was considered safe is not safe any more?Looks like it’s time to sanitise sex and man-woman relationships. Pleasure without risk looks like a dream.Here are some other truths that Michael Douglas didn’t tell us.It’s not just oral sex, kissing also can land you in bed: Serious kissing can transmit two viruses - EBV (Epstein Barr Virus) and CMV (Cyto Megalo Virus) - that cause a relatively debilitating, but less known (in India), mononucleosis. You do recover after a serious bout of flu-like illness, but you may feel sick and tired for many months. Many will retain the viruses in their bloodstream.About 85 per cent of the cases are caused by EBV, which can also lead to some cancers. Many people become long term carriers of EBV, pass it on, and some of them might develop some cancers as well. The CMV, although less prevalent, can also cause cancers and other complications.And then, there is widespread herpes, a very commonly seen virus, which can often be troublesome, particularly if transmitted through a combo of oral sex and kissing. The virus that (if) gets to the mouth from the genitals makes the scene bad.So, kissing is not as benign and simple as you thought - particularly if you are making out with somebody you just met at a nightclub or a in a paid “girlfriend experience”.Rubber is a great barrier, but isn't bullet-proof: The AIDS-scare since the 1980s has immensely popularised the use of condoms, but what many don’t realise is that it is still not good enough - not just against the AIDS-causing virus, but also against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In fact, its protection against STDs is less effective.Experts say condoms can prevent AIDS and STDs if they are used “correctly and consistently,” but it does fail some times because in an average of six per cent cases, condoms can break or slip. If the condom is old, you are too big or the sex is rough, it can break. It can slip, if you are small, flaccid or are unmindful of what’s happening down there.In addition, condoms do not offer complete protection against STDs because the base of the penis is always exposed. The STDs can be quite external to both the men and women and can hence be transmitted through rubbing and contact. A mutual external examination prior to the sexual act can be of partial help because some STDs manifest physically - but how utterly disgusting can that be?That’s not all.There are other risks associated with the exchange of body fluids - if you are giving up on sex and switching to alternative methods. Theoretically, hepatitis B can pass through non-intact skin and mucous membranes and saliva can be a medium.Additionally, some STDs such as gonorrhoea can occur without symptoms and if one doesn’t treat it on time, it can spread to different parts of the body and land one in serious complications. Of late, a variant of the disease has also become totally drug-resistant; means no known medicine will work. If one gets it despite all the sense of protection one has, it’s nothing sort of a fatal tragedy.So, where does that leave one? Unfortunately leaving you to err on the side of caution.This also makes safe sex a mirage. Some have been arguing that safe sex is a wrong terminology and hence has to be replaced with safer sex. The Michael Douglas example is one more piece of evidence towards this argument.Nothing is absolutely safe, least of them is sex.