Circumcision offers HIV protection

US researchers have found more evidence to suggest that circumcision protects men against HIV.

Looking at the medical records of 26,000 men with known HIV exposure, investigators found circumcision halves the risk of being infected with HIV/Aids.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine looked at the cases of African American men who came into medical centres in Maryland for HIV tests between 1993 and 2000.

All the men in the study told doctors they were heterosexual.
Of those that reported exposure to HIV, circumcision reduced the chances of infection by 51 per cent.

The findings were less marked among men who said they did not know whether they had been infected with HIV/Aids.

University and CDC results will be published in the January edition of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, but they are currently available online.

Some men, particularly in certain parts of Africa, shun condoms because of cultural issues, prompting scientists to look at different ways of protecting people against HIV/Aids.

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