TORONTO — Canadian Press Last updated on Tuesday, Apr. 07, 2009 03:30AM EDT
Two new studies appear to answer the question of whether male circumcision could lower the risk of HIV infection in men having heterosexual sex.
The trials were stopped early when an interim review of results showed circumcision significantly lowered a man's risk of becoming infected.
The director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, says male circumcision performed safely in a medical environment could lessen the burden of HIV-AIDS, especially in countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
One trial of 2,784 men in Kenya showed a 53 per cent reduction in new HIV cases among circumcised men compared to uncircumcised men.
University of Manitoba researcher Dr. Stephen Moses was co-principal investigator on the trial in Kenya, which was partially funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
The second trial, of almost 5,000 men in Uganda, showed HIV acquisition was reduced by 48 per cent in circumcised men.
“Many studies have suggested that male circumcision plays a role in protecting against HIV acquisition,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“We now have confirmation — from large, carefully controlled, randomized clinical trials — showing definitively that medically performed circumcision can significantly lower the risk of adult males contracting HIV through heterosexual intercourse.”
Dr. Fauci said that while the initial benefit will be to men, fewer infected men will mean fewer woman become infected in a part of the world where HIV primarily spreads through heterosexual intercourse.
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