An overwhelming majority of people in the U.K. support the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination for boys, according to a survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of the British Dental Health Foundation.
Three times as many people said they would support giving the "jab" to boys than were opposed to it, according to the organization. The poll also showed the public's lack of knowledge about the virus, with more than 1 in 5 men (21%) under the impression that HPV can be transmitted like a common cold.
Experts have forecast that HPV, often transmitted via oral sex, will overtake tobacco use as the main risk factor for mouth cancer within the next decade.
Mouth Cancer Action Month, run by the British Dental Health Foundation, launches on November 1 and aims to tackle the public's lack of understanding about the disease, risk factors, and signs and symptoms. Drinking alcohol to excess and poor diet, as well as tobacco use and presence of HPV, increase the risk of developing oral cancer. In the U.K. about 1 in 5 cases of oral cancer are predicted to be a result of HPV.
Margaret Stanley, PhD, from the department of pathology at the University of Cambridge, the keynote speaker at this year's Mouth Cancer Action Month Parliamentary Reception on October 22, claims the number of HPV-related cancers in men is growing at an alarming rate.
Chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, Nigel Carter, BDS, supported Stanley's call for boys' vaccinations and noted that the practice is in use in Australia.
