Circumcision No Benefit to the Ladies - Study

[via aidsmap]

There is evidence that men who are circumcised are less likely to become infected with HIV.

But results from a study presented to CROI [Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections] show that circumcision is not HIV prevention’s “silver bullet.” The study found that far from being protective, circumcision might actually be associated with an increased risk of HIV transmission. The wives of HIV-positive men who are circumcised being slightly more likely to become infected with HIV than the wives of uncircumcised HIV-positive men.

The study was conducted in Rakai, Uganda and involved over 1000 HIV-positive men. Annual HIV incidence was 14% amongst the wives of circumcised men and 9% amongst the wives of uncircumcised men.

Investigators described these results as “unexpected and disappointing.”

But HIV-positive circumcised men were a third less likely to have genital ulcer disease. This infection has been associated with an increased risk of HIV transmission.