While Michael Douglas may have been slightly off on his revelation that he contracted throat cancer after giving oral sex, in a way, he wasn’t way off. Douglas was alluding to theories that he may have contracted human papilloma virus (HPV), one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases. There are 40 different strands of the virus that affect males and females in the genital area and/or mouth and throat. In most cases, the virus goes unnoticed, without symptoms and will go away on its own. In some cases, however, HPV has been known to cause serious health issues including genital warts, certain types of cancers and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP), a rare condition in which warts grow in the throat.
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