Researching Sexual Health

Swingers, straight couples who swap sex partners or have group sex, have some of the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases, Dutch researchers said.

The researchers at the University of Maastricht based their findings on the data on patients seeking treatment in 2007 and 2008 at three sexual health clinics in South Limburg, Netherlands.

During the study period, there were just under 9,000 consultations at the three clinics, in which 12% were identified as swingers.

The study, published online ahead of print in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, found swingers were among those with the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections -- young people and gay men.

The combined rates of Chlamydia and gonorrhea were 10% among straight people, 14% among gay men, just under 5% in female prostitutes and 10.4% among swingers.

While other risk groups for sexually transmitted infections, such as young straight people and gay men, are systematically identified at sexually transmitted infections healthcare facilities and provided with appropriate services, this is generally not the case for swingers, the authors said in a statement.

Oral sex raises your risk of throat cancer scientists have warned.

A new study found the sex act can pass on the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can trigger a specific type of throat cancer in both men and women.

And they claim oral sex is an even bigger killer than smoking or drinking.

The researchers found those who had more than six oral sex partners in their lifetime and an HPV infection were 8.6 times more likely to develop the cancer than those who had never engaged in oral sex. Whereas smoking raised the risk of throat cancer three times, and drinking by 2.5.

Researcher Dr Gypsyamber D'Souza, from the Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, US, said: It is important to know that people without the traditional risk factors of tobacco and alcohol use can nevertheless be at risk of oropharyngeal cancer.

There are around 7,600 cases of oesophageal cancer diagnosed in the UK each year and 7,400 deaths related to the disease.

But co-author Dr Maura Gillison said: People should be reassured that oropharyngeal cancer is relatively uncommon, and the overwhelming majority of people with an oral HPV infection probably will not get throat cancer.

The findings are published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.