February 24, 2007
UN Acts on Male Circumcision as Anti-HIV Weapon
From OneWorld.net:
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UNAIDS Secretariat welcome the publication today in The Lancet of the detailed findings of two trials undertaken in Kenya and Uganda to determine whether male circumcision has a protective effect against acquiring HIV infection.
Funded by the US National Institutes of Health, the trials were terminated early on 12 December 2006 on the recommendation of their Data and Safety Monitoring Board. The findings of the two trials support the results of the South Africa Orange Farm Intervention Trial, funded by the French National Agency for Research on AIDS (ANRS), which were published in late 2005. Together the three studies, which enrolled more than 10,000 participants, provide compelling evidence of a 50 to 60% reduction in heterosexual HIV transmission to men.
More here.
Posted by Sughra Raza at 03:45 PM | Permalink
Comments
I've seen this a few times, but they never say why it reduces transmission. Is it because circumcised guys have less sex?
Posted by: Gunnar | Feb 25, 2007 10:26:13 PM
The inside of the foreskin is lined with Langerhans' cells, antigen processing immune system cells, to whose receptors HIV attaches. These cells are the most likely portals of entry on the uncircumcised penis. The skin of the circumcised penis is also thought to be less sensitive and less prone to tearing, another, though less likely, mode of transmission, than the circumcised penis.
Posted by: Poppycock | Feb 27, 2007 6:37:50 AM
That last clause should read: "than that of the uncircumcised penis". I simply ejaculated that last post without proofreading it first.
Posted by: Poppycock | Feb 27, 2007 6:44:43 AM
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