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Gay health: American health agency has been considering recommending circumcision for gay men
Circumcision of little value in the West
Circumcision may have no effect on HIV transmission
Studies in Africa have suggested that circumcision can reduce the spread of HIV, but a new report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that it is of little value to men in Western countries.
The findings, reported in the journal AIDS, have arrived as the CDC is considering whether to recommend circumcision for gay men or straight men at elevated risk of HIV.
The agency examined HIV infection rates among nearly 4,900 men in the US, Canada and the Netherlands who were participating in a clinical trial of an HIV vaccine.
Over a three-year period, the researchers found no difference in the risk of HIV infection between circumcised and uncircumcised men.
Earlier studies have speculated that circumcision protects men from HIV transmission because foreskin tissue seems to be particularly susceptible to the virus, but the report suggests that that factor may be outweighed in developed countries where many people are on powerful HIV drugs that reduce the chances of transmission.
Additionally, the report notes that circumcision would not affect the HIV risk from receptive anal sex, thus outweighing any protective effect that circumcision could offer during insertive sex.
