Circumcision may cut HIV risk among some groups of US men

Circumcision could cut the risk of heterosexual HIV transmission in the United States- especially in some groups such as black and Hispanic men, according to a new evidence review.

The potential impact of adult male circumcision on HIV transmission rates in the US is hard to predict, say the researchers writing in PLoS Medicine.

Experts highlight findings from a study of men attending a Baltimore sexually transmitted infection clinic, which found that whilst circumcision was not associated with a protective effect throughout the whole clinic population, it was associated with a reduced risk of infection among men known to have had unprotected sexual intercourse with HIV-positive female partners. The risk reduction was approximately 55%, although the confidence intervals of this estimate were wide (0.22–0.97) (Warner 2007). read more