 |
|
|
| |
Circumcising Men Slows Herpes Spread by 25%, May Reduce HIV Risk
|
| |
| |
By John Lauerman
Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Circumcising men reduces the chance they and their wives will catch genital infections that may spur HIV's spread, researchers said today at a meeting in Boston.
Circumcised men reduced their chances of catching genital herpes by about 25 percent, compared with uncircumcised men. Other vaginal infections that can help spread HIV dropped by as much as 50 percent in wives of circumcised men, research showed. A separate study found that men with HIV who have sex too soon after circumcision may raise the risk of spreading the AIDS virus.
The findings could help AIDS researchers understand how to safely increase rates of male circumcision, a relatively common procedure in infants in which the foreskin is removed from the penis. Since studies have shown the surgery reduces men's risk of getting infected by about half, men with and without HIV will likely be seeking it out, said Maria Wawer, a Johns Hopkins University family health expert who helped run the study.
``We were afraid that if HIV-positive men were denied the procedure it would become stigmatizing,'' she said today at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. ``It's important to figure out the potential risks and benefits.''
More than 33 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, an incurable virus with no vaccine. As many as one-quarter of the world's men have undergone circumcision, according to the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition in New York. Rates are low in eastern and southern African counties, health experts said. Less than 15 percent of Ugandan men are circumcised, said David Serwadda, dean of the Makere University School of Public Health in an interview today.
Circumcision Policy
``The government is in the active stages of formulating circumcision policy,'' he said. ``At the moment, there is an effort to determine what it will cost to circumcise 20 percent of the male population over the next five years.''
Tissues underneath the foreskin may become tougher and more impervious to viral infection after the procedure, scientists have said. The surgery may also remove cells in the sex organs that are key targets for the HIV virus.
Decreasing genital herpes infections with circumcision might help reduce rates of HIV. Herpes causes genital sores that may make it easier for the virus to travel from one person's bloodstream to another. The virus also activates immune cells, which may make them more susceptible to HIV infection.
Both the studies presented today were performed in Rakai, Uganda. French researchers estimated last year that circumcising three-fourths of men in 14 African countries might prevent 3 million deaths and save $3.9 billion in health costs over the next 20 years.
Education Needed
The study of circumcision and HIV transmission highlights concerns researchers have about performing more of the surgeries in adults. Men who had sex before surgical wounds were properly healed may be at greater risk of spreading HIV to their wives.
``We will have to provide intensive education to men and women about not resuming sex too early'' Hopkins' Wawer said. Researchers from the Rakai Health Sciences Program in Rakai, Uganda also helped perform the studies.
After a man has been circumcised, couples should probably wait at least six weeks to resume sex to make sure that the wound has healed, Wawer said.
More than half of U.S. newborn baby boys were circumcised in 2005, according to a government study released in January. About 1 million people in the U.S. are infected with HIV, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
