Uncircumcised run higher risk of AIDS

Nutrition Health Review, Fall, 1989

Uncircumcised Run Higher Risk of AIDS

A number of recent studies into the transmission of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) suggest that men who are uncircumcised have a greater chance of being infected with the AIDS virus during sexual intercourse. In fact, the data from two studies found the risk of AIDS infection to be five to eight times greater for uncircumcised men than for those circumcised.

The first study was conducted a year ago, at a Nairobi, Kenya, clinic, by J. Neil Simonsen, Francis Plummer, and colleagues of the Universities of Manitoba and Nairobi and the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

The team's research initially included an examination of the correlation between genital ulcer disease and the transmission of AIDS in men, a link which the team had already made in women.

The researchers originally said they expected to find that uncircumcised men had a higher rate of genital ulcers and, therefore, a higher rate of AIDS. However, the findings revealed that uncircumcised men had a higher risk of contracting AIDS whether or not they had ulcers.

Another study of circumcision and AIDS was led by John Bongaarts of the Population Council in New York City and Priscilla Reining of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in Washington.

In 37 countries examined in Africa, Reining described the correlation she found between areas of no circumcision and high incidence of AIDS as "very robust."

A similar study -- with like findings -- was also conducted by Stephen Moses of the International Development Research Centre in Nairobi along with Plummer and colleagues. But why circumcisions affect the transmission of AIDS is not completely understood.

One theory is that the foreskin provides a warm environment for the virus, which perishes in dryness, to live. Also, after circumcision, the top of the organ develops a stronger covering, which may protect against any small injuries that might allow AIDS entry into the body. "The finding suggests that circumcision should be advocated, just as we advocate condoms," said Dr. Thomas Quinn, an epidemiologist with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (Science August 4, 1989, 245:470.)