Circumcision may reduce HIV risk by up to 60 percent [View All]

[Herman Munster]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070223/ap_on_he_me/aids_circumcision

LONDON - Scientists say conclusive data shows there is no question circumcision reduces men's chances of catching HIV by up to 60 percent — a finding experts are hailing as a major breakthrough in the fight against AIDS. Now, the question is how to put that fact to work to combat AIDS across Africa.

The findings first were announced in December, when initial results from two major trials — in Kenya and Uganda — showed promising links between circumcision and HIV transmission. However, those trials were deemed so definitive that the tests were halted early. The full data from the trials, carried out by the United States' National Institutes of Health, were published Friday in The Lancet.

"This is an extraordinary development," said Dr. Kevin de Cock, director of the World Health Organization's AIDS department. "Circumcision is the most potent intervention in HIV prevention that has been described." Circumcision has long been suspected of reducing men's susceptibility to HIV infection because the cells in the foreskin of the penis are especially vulnerable to the virus.

A modeling study done last year projected that in the next decade, male circumcision could prevent 2 million AIDS infections and 300,000 deaths. Last year, 2.8 million people in sub-Saharan Africa became infected with HIV, and 2.1 million people died. Experts say the breakthrough is a significant one on par with the identification of the virus and the use of lifesaving combination drug therapy.