January 20, 2013

Excerpts from Peter Saunders on his Christian Medical Comment blog: “The BMA has called for the HPV immunisation programme to be widened to include gay men, in an effort to tackle ‘alarming’ rates of HPV-related disease. … What the Pulse article [original source] doesn’t do is to enlarge on the little-known link between anal intercourse, HPV and anal cancer. Here are some facts. Anal cancer is rare in the general population but its incidence is on the rise for homosexual men. In the United Kingdom, about 1,100 people are diagnosed with anal cancer each year. The survival prospects depend very much on the stage at diagnosis but overall 25-40% of people diagnosed with anal cancer will die within five years.”