Circumcision may not reduce AIDS risk

A study conducted in Africa suggests male circumcision does not reduce the risk of HIV transmission to female partners.

The report, presented Sunday at the 15th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston, said male circumcision actually increased the risk of HIV transmission if the couple resumed sexual intercourse before the circumcision wound was fully healed, The New York Times said Monday.

The study was conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins and Uganda who had shown circumcision's benefits among men in earlier studies, the newspaper said. The most recent analysis focused on the 161 couples in which the men were infected but their spouses were not. The incidence of infection was highest in the first six-month follow-up period and declined for the rest of the study period.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International