2010-07-22 EDGEBoston - Study: Adult Circumcision Minimally Effective at Controlling U.S. HIV Trans

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Study: Adult Circumcision Minimally Effective at Controlling U.S. HIV Transmission
by Kilian Melloy

WebLink: http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?...sc3=&id=108335

Circumcision would not significantly reduce the spread of HIV in the United States, a new study suggests.

The study, carried out in San Francisco, indicated that circumcision as a tactic for reducing HIV transmission would only be minimally effective, reported an article posted at Scientific Computing.

Although studies in Africa have indicated that circumcision might help reduce the spread of HIV in straight men by removing foreskin cells that are vulnerable to the virus, the new study--which focuses on gay American men--does not arrive at the same conclusion, in part because circumcision is already so prevalent in the U.S. Moreover, only a very small minority of men surveyed for the study said that they would undergo circumcision even if it were proven to reduce their risk of contracting HIV.

"Our study indicates that any potential benefit may likely be too small to justify implementing circumcision programs as an intervention for HIV prevention," said Chongyi Wei, a post-doc with University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, which carried out the study, and an author of the paper on the results, which was presented at this week’s International AIDS Conference in Vienna...

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