Would you get circumcised to reduce your chances of contracting HIV?

Question

According to the BBC news male circumcision has the potential to reduce the risks of contracting HIV by approximately 50%.

Answer 1

This may be true, but if you really want to reduce your chances of HIV, nothing does it better than protection

Answer 2

It's alot cleaner to be that way but what if people start getting circumcised then act carelessly because they don't need to worry. Best thing to do is always use a condom and when you absolutely know for sure that your girlfriend doesn't have HIV you can stop wearing one. I think it was silly for the BBC to say that, it obviously tests people who are being careless, sleeping around and not wearing protection anyway. It's giving people the excuse to be a slapper. By the way more hetrosexuals than homosexuals are picking up the disease these days because homosexuals are being more careful and know what a danger it can be.

Answer 3

No, I would continue to practice safe sex, which reduces the risk by 99%. Why would you take such a risk with your life?

In any case, there were three studies, and all looked at tribes in Africa. They have unsanitary conditions, poor hygeine, and related diseases that increase their risk factors. Circumcision would not have the same impact in the US.

A similar study conducted in Australia showed a reduction in risk, but only of about 15% - that would be a better match for most Western countries.

Answer 4

NIH backs circumcision in AIDS fight
Procedure an effective way to stop HIV, says National Institutes of Health
By Robert Bazell
Chief science and health correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 6:10 p.m. ET Dec. 13, 2006
Circumcising adult men is an effective way to limit transmission of the virus that causes AIDS. The National Institutes of Health announced today that two clinical trials in Africa have been stopped because an independent monitoring board determined the treatment was so effective that it would be unethical to continue the experiment.

"We now have confirmation — from large, carefully controlled, randomized clinical trials —showing definitively that medically performed circumcision can significantly lower the risk of adult males contracting HIV through heterosexual intercourse," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. "While the initial benefit will be fewer HIV infections in men, ultimately adult male circumcision could lead to fewer infections in women in those areas of the world where HIV is spread primarily through heterosexual intercourse."

The NIH has been sponsoring two trials — one with 5,000 men, ages 15 to 49, in Uganda and a second with 2,784 men, 18-24, in Kenya. Half the men voluntarily underwent circumcision. The men were then monitored for about two years. Far more of the uncircumcised men became infected with HIV.

The studies found that the circumcised men in the Kenyan study were 48 percent less likely to get infected and 53 percent less likely in the Ugandan study.


This finding appears to apply only to heterosexual transmission, which is the main mode of spread in Africa.

Male circumcision is common at birth in the United States. But in sub-Saharan Africa, home to more than half of the world’s almost 40 million HIV-infected people, there are large swaths of populations where male circumcision is rare.

Circumcision is not perfect protection, Fauci stressed. Men who become circumcised must not quit using condoms nor take other risks — and circumcision offers no protection from HIV acquired through anal sex or injection drug use, he noted.

“It’s not a magic bullet, but a potentially important intervention,” agreed Dr. Kevin De **** of the World Health Organization.

These findings present enormous ethical and policy decisions which have yet to be addressed. But scientists say the reduction of infection is so substantial that the findings cannot be ignored.

© 2006 MSNBC Interactive© 2006 MSNBC InteractiveThe Associated Press contributed to this report.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16184582/

Answer 5

Circumcision can save over two million in the next 15 years. This is very serious and should not be taken as a joke.

The studies the BBC mentions have been carried out by prestigious and respectable research institutions and universities, and are backed in many cases by official organisations such as the US National Institutions of Health or the World Health Organisation.

Why uncircumcised men are more prone to STD’s?

Scientist have discovered that the skin covering the inner side of the foreskin is by its nature (has a very low amount of a protein called ‘keratin’ which stops viruses entering into the body, plus some other factors) acts as an ‘open door’ to STD’s. Circumcision, by removing the foreskin, ‘closes’ this ‘door’.

Circumcision rates are increasing nowadays, both in the United States and overseas. Many African and South American countries with little circumcision tradition are starting to promote the procedure to help to reduce the AIDS-HIV infection rates.

The sites below have very interesting information related to this topic. Please have a look.

Answer 6

It's true that circumcised guys are much less likely to catch HIV-
and not only HIV, other STD's too (i.e. Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea, etc. etc.).
That's because so many uncircumcised guys personal hygeine isn't that great!
Being circumcised, however, is no guarantee against HIV or other STD's- SAFE sex is still vital.
Get circumcised if you need to, like your foreskin doesn't work properly, or if you really want to.
Don't get circumcised out of panic, or a false sense of security that it will make you immune from HIV which it won't.

Answer 7

That's a load of SH$T, do you know the chances of contracting HIV through your penis are BILLIONS to one. All you have to do is pee after sex and wash yourself good. If your lucky enough not to been circumcised, enjoy it. It's better to have the hood, so keep it

Just so everyone knows, No You Can't Get HIV from having sex without a condom. It has to be a open wound, you need to check your medical books.

Good Luck

Answer 8

As far as I can tell, nobody asked the men how often they had sex and how many partners they had, so my guess is that circumcision cut way down on all types of sexual activity (because it cut down on pleasure).

In Africa, where these studies were done, condoms are expensive, hard to find, and culturally unacceptable. The study has little relevance to other areas of the world where they are cheap, abundant, and acceptable to most men. HIV is actually more common in the US, where most sexually-active men have been cut, than in Europe, with a sexually intact male population, probably because needle-sharing is more common in the US, so why not try to prevent needle-sharing instead of sexually mutilating men who are at low risk..

Answer 9

If you want to reduce the risk of contracting HIV then wear a condom always

Answer 10

these so called studies came out a few years ago claiming 90%
reduction ,they were flawed then as i expect now.
they did not take into account tribal customs etc.in some tribes that practice circumcision sleeping around was frowned upon,due to religion etc.
unlike some of the others.
theres a lot of circumcised guys in africa now having unprotected sex thinking they are imune because of these so called scientific studies carried out by the pro circ groups in america .
i think the latest was by Dr Kevin C.ock whose name says it all.
Circumcision under sterile conditions kills 1 in every 3000
in africa this is a lot higher.