Circumcision cuts HIV risk

A new study published in the journal PLoS Medicine indicates circumcision to have a drastic effect in preventing HIV infections among men.

The study was held in South Africa where French scientist, Bertran Auvert, recruited 3,274 sexually active and uncircumcised young men to take part in the experiment. The participants were immediately separated into two groups. The first group was circumcised and instructed to abstain from sex for the following 6 weeks, while the second group remained uncircumcised.

Auvert planned on testing both groups for HIV at 3, 12, and 21 months. However, the results of the trial were clear after 18 months.

After a year and a half, researchers detected more than double the amount of infections among the non-circumcised group than those who had been circumcised at the beginning. To be more specific, researchers found only 20 cases of infection at 18 months among the circumcised men, compared to 49 among those who had not received the operation.

Auvert halted the study early at 18 months, saying the results were clear and conclusive, and ordering circumcisions for the remaining participants.

Reviewed:		November 01, 2005		Rick Nauert PhD
Source:		Revolution Health News
Copyright:		©Revolution Health News