Male Circumcision Reduces HIV Risk
Reuters | Dec 14, 2006
Will Dunham, Washington: Circumcising men cuts their risk of being infected with the AIDS virus in half, and could prevent hundreds of thousands or even millions of new infections, researchers said on Wednesday.
Circumcising men worked so well that the researchers stopped two large clinical trials in Kenya and Uganda to announce the results, although they cautioned that the procedure does not make men immune to the virus.
Public health leaders hailed the results as pointing to a potentially powerful way to reduce HIV infections in Africa, the continent hardest hit by AIDS. "It does have the potential to prevent many tens of thousands, many hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of infections over coming years," Dr. Kevin De Cock, director of the World Health Organisation's Department of HIV/AIDS, told reporters.
A U.S. National Institutes of Health study in Kisumu, Kenya, involving 2,784 men aged 18 to 24 showed a 53 percent reduction of HIV infections in circumcised men compared to uncircumcised men.
A parallel study involving 4,996 men aged 15 to 49 in Rakai, Uganda, showed circumcised men were 48 percent less likely than uncircumcised men to become infected. Researchers previously had noticed that in places where circumcision is common, HIV was less common.
Results of the first major study on the issue were reported last year out of South Africa, with researchers seeing a 60 percent reduction in HIV risk for circumcised men. Researchers viewed the new trials as strong confirmation.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the institute ended both trials early and offered circumcision to all men involved in them. The trials began in 2005 and were due to go until mid-2007.
"These results indicate that adult male circumcision could be an important addition to an HIV prevention strategy for men. Male circumcision can lower both an individual's risk of infection and hopefully the rate of HIV spread through the community," Fauci said.
Circumcising men worked so well that the researchers stopped two large clinical trials in Kenya and Uganda to announce the results, although they cautioned that the procedure does not make men immune to the virus.
Public health leaders hailed the results as pointing to a potentially powerful way to reduce HIV infections in Africa, the continent hardest hit by AIDS. "It does have the potential to prevent many tens of thousands, many hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of infections over coming years," Dr. Kevin De Cock, director of the World Health Organisation's Department of HIV/AIDS, told reporters.
A U.S. National Institutes of Health study in Kisumu, Kenya, involving 2,784 men aged 18 to 24 showed a 53 percent reduction of HIV infections in circumcised men compared to uncircumcised men.
A parallel study involving 4,996 men aged 15 to 49 in Rakai, Uganda, showed circumcised men were 48 percent less likely than uncircumcised men to become infected. Researchers previously had noticed that in places where circumcision is common, HIV was less common.
Results of the first major study on the issue were reported last year out of South Africa, with researchers seeing a 60 percent reduction in HIV risk for circumcised men. Researchers viewed the new trials as strong confirmation.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the institute ended both trials early and offered circumcision to all men involved in them. The trials began in 2005 and were due to go until mid-2007.
"These results indicate that adult male circumcision could be an important addition to an HIV prevention strategy for men. Male circumcision can lower both an individual's risk of infection and hopefully the rate of HIV spread through the community," Fauci said.
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