How does male circumcision protect against HIV infection?

doi:10.1136/bmj.320.7249.1592

BMJ 2000;320:1592-1594 ( 10 June )

Education and debate

How does male circumcision protect against HIV infection?

Robert Szabo, medical resident ^a, Roger V Short, professor ^b.

^a Faculty of Medicine, Monash University, Wellington Road, Melbourne 3168, Australia, ^b Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne, Royal Women's Hospital, 132 Grattan Street, Melbourne 3053, Australia

Correspondence to: R V Short

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In his otherwise excellent review of the AIDS epidemic in the 21st century, Fauci presented no new strategies for preventingthe spread of the disease.¹ He made no mention of male circumcision,yet there is now compelling epidemiological evidence from over40 studies which shows that male circumcision provides significantprotection against HIV infection; circumcised males are two toeight times less likely to become infected with HIV.² Furthermore,circumcision also protects against other sexually transmittedinfections, such as syphilis and gonorrhoea, ³ ⁴ and sincepeople who have a sexually transmitted infection are two to fivetimes more likely to become infected with HIV,⁵ circumcisionmay be even more protective. The most dramatic evidence of theprotective effect of circumcision comes from a new study of couplesin Uganda who had discordant HIV status; in this study the womanwas HIV positive and her male partner was not.⁶ No new infectionsoccurred . . . [Full text of this article]

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Rapid Responses:

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