Voluntary circumcision of men reduced their acquisition of herpes simplex virus by about 25% and cut in half the rate of ulcerative genital diseases, primarily herpes, among their wives. But disappointingly, among those men who were HIV positive, circumcision did not seem to affect the rate of transmission of HIV to their wives.

The study was part of broad ongoing population research being conducted in the rural Rakai region of Uganda as part of an almost 20 year collaboration between local and US investigators. It was presented this week at the 15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

Three earlier studies conducted in …