In an odd news item for today, a new piece of research has concluded that the Human papillomavirus (HPV), generally connected with various cancers in and around the genital area, is now thought to be the cause of throat and neck cancer in some patients.

How is this possible? With smoking having declined in recent decades, something new has caused the incidence of cancer in the throat and neck areas to not decrease. How about orally transmitted HPV infections?

What does this mean? Yes, that's right - oral sex may be an underlying cause of transmitting HPV to the throat and neck areas, causing later cancerous growths and tumors.

My friends over at That's Fit recently posted this item about one of the leading causes of throat cancer -- Oral sex. The threat is so serious, in fact, that it beats the risk associated with smoking or drinking alcohol by nine times. Surprised? I am.

But the connection between throat cancer and oral sex is also linked to HPV (Human papillomavirus), a sexually transmitted disease that increases the chance of contracting cervical cancer in Women. What's even more scary is that it's estimated that 80% of Women contract HPV at some point during their life. And as Jonathon points out, the strong connection between HPV and cancer of the genitals should lead us to anticipate that the virus can cause cancer in other parts of our bodies too.

Still, the statistics -- especially that oral sex is nine-time more likely to give you throat cancer than smoking -- are pretty alarming. Don't you think?

I met Nigel Gooding this morning by way of a comment he left regarding the blog post about men being twice as likely to die of cancer than women. As a man, he found the study to be a patronizing generalization that might be factually incorrect. As I am normally allergic to patronization and generalization myself, I took as second look at the study and the way the post presented the information. Because his entire comment was both fair and intelligent in the points he had to make, I emailed Nigel with my take on it, and then went for a visit to read his blog. Gooding is a 42, single, co-father of Will and Ellen, and a throat cancer survivor who blogs The Ferryman's Column. He describes his blog as, "a quirky, light hearted approach which documented my treatment, and now recovering and living with a cancer that kills one in two people that get it."

Gooding's last post is in regard to the bird flu and cancer, that starts out with "It has been a few days since I posted and no I have not been rounding up dead swans in an attempt to rid the World of bird flu." Before I read further, I knew I was going to enjoy his writing and I was going to like this person. He describes the fundraising marathon he was gearing up for and participated in, as well as his observations and thoughts about life in general. In my opinion, the single best aspect of the blogosphere is in the connections you can make, and in the people you find. Gooding may describe his blog as quirky and lighthearted -- I would add delightful, insightful, inspirational and real. The Ferryman's Column is on my short list of blogs to read now.

Blues musician Sam Myers has been battling throat cancer since February of this year. He was receiving traditional radiation and chemotherapy treatment for his condition without any positive results. Last week a surgical team took the drastic measure of removing his larynx, leaving him unable to sing or play his harmonica. The surgeons installed a voice box that has a lesser mechanical sound than most but he will still have to hold his hand over his throat to speak. He has been told he will never again be able to sing or play his beloved harmonica. Although many fans are mourning the loss of his beautiful voice, he is also legendary for his ability to plays blues drums. Many are hoping he will again enter the music arena to share his amazing feeling of blues music with fans

According to The Oral Cancer Foundation, approximately 300,000 people worldwide are newly diagnosed with oral cancer. In the US alone, a person dies from oral cancer every hour of every day. Oral cancers are a group of cancers which fall into the head and neck cancer category, commonly known as mouth cancer, tongue cancer, and throat cancer. When oral cancer is diagnosed early, there can be a 90 percent survival rate. However, the majority of oral cancers are not diagnosed until the cancer has progressed, accounting for the very high death rate. Oral cancer detection is usually made by a dentist.

A promising simple test, a saliva test for oral cancer, may be in the works. UCLA School of Dentistry scientists in Dr. David Wong's laboratory have developed the Saliva RNA Test for Oral Cancer. The test has been highly accurate in detecting oral cancer, at around 82 percent. This is the first standardized saliva-based test for clinical oral cancer detection and will have enormous clinical value in reducing the mortality and morbidity for oral cancer patients, as well as improving quality of life.

Before my diagnosis of cancer, a visit to the doctor's office, and the reason for the visit, was most often met with an assurance from the doctor that whatever the malady, it was probably nothing serious. After a diagnosis of cancer, it seems I can be suffering from nothing more than sore gardening muscles, or some other such malady, and I am immediately sent to a hospital lab for tests. Many lab tests are intrusive, invasive, uncomfortable and painful. It is just not the way I want to spend my morning, but that is how I spent my morning. This afternoon, Cambridge Medical Research Council researchers announced they have developed a simple test to detect throat cancer, that is less expensive and less risky, using a spongy pill and a piece of string. It still sounds like an uncomfortable test, but seems better than the camera attached to a long tube currently used to look for throat cancer.

Richard Day Gore is a passionately angry blogger looking to start a revolution at Rogue Cell Diary, where he shares his experiences as an uninsured cancer patient who survived cancer in spite of living in the land of for-profit medicine. His blog takes on the issues of the uninsured, a devastatingly pervasive problem in this country of plenty, in creating awareness and dialog about the lack of health insurance for 44 million people. Gore did a Yahoo search, looking for forums and groups of people struggling as one of the medically uninsured, and he became frustrated in the lack of search results. Gore wants to know, "where is everybody?"