Circumcision – lasting effectiveness against HIV

[19 April 2011 - 16h03]

A number of studies have established that circumcision reduces the risk of transmitting the AIDS virus. Five years on, this finding remains valid … and more significant than the medical community thought.

In 2005-2006, a study was conducted in Uganda to evaluate the impact of circumcision on the transmission of HIV; it involved around 5,000 seronegative men. Even back then, the results were spectacular, with the researchers observing a 50% reduction in the risk of infection among men who were circumcised. This year, new data has been published. It shows that the effectiveness of circumcision had been underestimated. Five years later in fact, it turns out that circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection by no less than 73%!

Of those men who were not circumcised at the time of the study, 80% have now opted for this solution. But do they believe themselves to be fully protected to the point of abandoning the use of condoms? The percentage of those not using condoms or using them very little has increased … but in the same way in both groups. It seems that it is lack of availability of this means of prevention that is to blame rather than any ‘disinhibition’.

However, it is important to remember that circumcision is only a complementary means of helping to prevent infection with HIV: the use of condoms remains essential.

>> Cet article est aussi disponible en français

>> Cet article est aussi disponible en arabe

© 1996-2012 Destination Santé SAS - All Rights Reserved. No information contained on this server can be reproduced or retransmitted without prior written consent of Destination Santé. Offenders will be prosecuted in consideration of articles L 122-4 and L 335-3 of the Code of Intellectual Property, allowing up to two years' imprisonment and a 150,000 euros fine.