Healthsifter by mary desmond pinkowish, since 2003

HIV Transmission and Circumcision

Time magazine covers the recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) about the effect of circumcision on AIDS transmission. This is an excellent explanation about what's known about the topic. You'll find the entire discussion interesting. Here's a portion:

"Circumcision is believed to lower H.I.V. transmission in several ways. The inner surface of the foreskin is rich with cells that are more vulnerable to H.I.V. than cells on other parts of the penis; because they are also closer to the epithelial surface and at higher risk for tears during intercourse, they increase susceptibility to infection. Removal of the foreskin further lowers men's odds of developing genital ulcers (from diseases such as syphilis), which in turn lowers their vulnerability to H.I.V. during intercourse. In theory, circumcision should be protective for all men who participate in insertive sex, including heterosexual men and men who have sex with men."

You can find a summary of the original JAMA article here.

Circumcision again

Circumcision may protect men from HIV when they have sex with women, but there's less evidence that the procedure protects men who have sex with men. That's the conclusion of just-completed research, as detailed today at Reuters. Here's a snippet:

"A review of 15 studies involving 53,567 gay and bisexual men in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, India, Taiwan, Peru and the Netherlands failed to show a clear benefit for those who were circumcised, researchers from the U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Circumcised men were 14 percent less likely to be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, than those who were uncircumcised, but the finding was not statistically significant, the CDC researchers said.

"You can't necessarily say with confidence that we're seeing a true effect there," said the CDC's Gregorio Millett, who led the study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Overall, we're not finding a protective effect associated with circumcision for gay and bisexual men," Millett said in a telephone interview."