Risk/benefit analysis of circumcision and HIV

Androlog Mail

Dear Androlog participants,

Concerning the recent prospective trials investigating the effect of adult
circumcision on HIV transmission:

Auvert B, Taljaard D, Lagarde E, Sobngwi-Tambekou J, Sitta R, Puren A.
Randomized, controlled intervention trial of male circumcision for reduction
of HIV infection risk: the ANRS 1265 Trial. PLoS Med. 2005 Nov;2(11):e298.
Epub 2005 Oct 25. Erratum in: PLoS Med. 2006 May;3(5):e298. PMID:
16231970

Bailey RC, Moses S, Parker CB, Agot K, Maclean I, Krieger JN, Williams CF,
Campbell RT, Ndinya-Achola JO. Male circumcision for HIV prevention in
young men in Kisumu, Kenya: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2007
Feb 24;369(9562):643-56. PMID: 17321310

in which circumcision was consistently statistically associated with a
reduction of approximately half in HIV transmission, I was very curious
about your sense of the risk side of the equation: does the surgical risk of
circumcision balance the potential benefit in HIV reduction in developed
and/or third world populations?

Thank you for your thoughts,
Craig Niederberger
craign@uic.edu
Received on Tue Mar 6 10:14:05 2007