The number of cancers related to HPV has increased by approximately 17 percent over the past eight years. Nearly 39,000 new cases of HPV-related cancer occur every year, according to the CDC's new Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The instance of HPV-related cancers increased from 10.8 per 100,000 people from 2004-2008 to 11.7 per 100,000 people from 2008-2012, according to the CDC. HPV-related cancers include cervical, anal and penile cancers as well as cancers of the mouth, throat and neck. While men cannot get HPV-linked cervical cancers, they are particularly vulnerable to HPV-related oropharyngeal cancers. The rates of HPV-related cancers of the tongue, mouth and throat are more than four times higher in men than in women.
"In the past, people always felt that the boys needed to be vaccinated to protect the girls but, truthfully, they need to be vaccinated to protect themselves," Lois Ramondetta, MD, professor of gynecologic oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, told NBC News. "There is an epidemic of HPV-related cancers in men, specifically those of the tonsil and the back of the tongue. What's really important to know about those is that there is no screening test for those."
According to NBC News, some experts predict throat cancer will surpass cervical cancer as the most common HPV-related cancer by 2020.
HPV vaccination is recommended for boys and girls at ages 11 and 12 because it's more likely to be effective before sexual activity begins, though it can be administered through the age of 26 for females and 21 for males.
In 2014, 40 percent of teenage girls received the proper dosage of the HPV vaccine. For boys between 13 and 17, the rate of proper vaccination was 22 percent.
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