Men may be able to lower their risk of contracting AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases that cause cervical cancer by being circumcised, according to three new studies released on Wednesday in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
In one study, Dr. Bertran Auvert of the University of Versailles in France and colleagues in South Africa tested more than 1,200 men visiting a clinic in South Africa.
Participants aged 18 to 24 were divided into two groups. One group was circumcised, and the other was not.
The team discovered that under 15 percent of the circumcised men and 22 percent of the uncircumcised men were infected with the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is the main cause of cervical cancer and genital warts.
“This finding explains why women with circumcised partners are at a lower risk of cervical cancer than other women,” researchers wrote.
In a study within the U.S., where circumcision rates have been dropping, researchers analyzed 400 men in two cities who showed no signs of HPV.
Carrie Nielson of Oregon Health & Science University and colleagues said they found some indication that circumcision might protect men.
The circumcised men were about half as likely to have HPV as uncircumcised men, after adjustment for other differences between the two groups.
The third report, conducted by Lee Warner of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, studied African-American men in Baltimore.
Warner’s team found 10 percent of those at high risk of infection with HIV who were circumcised had the virus, compared to 22 percent of those who were not.
“Circumcision was associated with substantially reduced HIV risk in patients with known HIV exposure, suggesting that results of other studies demonstrating reduced HIV risk for circumcision among heterosexual men likely can be generalized to the U.S. context,” they wrote.
Experts say the three studies provide more evidence to highlight the need for circumcision as “an additional means of protection from HIV.”
But they noted that the American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend routine circumcision for newborns.
“As a consequence of this AAP decision, Medicaid does not cover circumcision costs, and this is particularly disadvantageous for poorer African American and Hispanic boys who, as adults, may face high HIV exposure risk,” Gray and colleagues wrote.
“It is also noteworthy that circumcision rates have been declining in the U.S., possibly because of lack of Medicaid coverage.”
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