Reducing the risk of HIV infection through male circumcision: women benefit too. This is what a French team says.
Male circumcision also benefits women. This is the result of the latest study by the National AIDS Research Agency (ANRS), presented on July 25 at the International AIDS Conference (IAS-2014) held in Melbourne (Australia). Their work in South Africa has shown that male circumcision can also reduce the risk of infection with the virus in women whose partners are circumcised.
15% new infections
The data come from three cross-sectional studies carried out in 2007, 2010 and 2012, among 2,452 women aged 15 to 29. These women were questioned about their sex life and their habits as well as the sex status of their partner (s). Samples of their blood were also taken. Half of them said they had sex exclusively with circumcised men. Among these women, the proportion of HIV infections is twice as low as those who also have sex with uncircumcised men (15% versus 30%).
The researchers also estimated, using a mathematical model, the incidence of HIV in the two groups. Here again, a gap emerges: it is less than 20% in women with only circumcised partners. However, there is a very high number of circumcised men in the population that participated in the study, which could influence the results, the researchers say. The results remain encouraging and “reinforce the voluntary program of circumcision in the fight against AIDS. These programs were established as early as 2002 in southern and eastern Africa, where the risk of infection in the heterosexual population is high.
Results to be confirmed
In 2013, the results of these programs are encouraging: circumcised men are about 60% less likely to contract HIV than others when they have sex with other men. This thesis has nevertheless been rejected several times by other scientists, and it has been the subject of many contradictory studies. The World Health Organization (WHO) has nonetheless recommended since 2007 circumcision as a complementary means of prevention of this virus, in addition to wearing a condom.
The results of this new study are to be welcomed, but they need to be deepened. The researchers do not intend to stop there: they will again move towards South Africa to conduct a new survey, which will bring together 3,000 HIV-negative and circumcised men this time. “This new study will measure the effect, in real life, of a large-scale circumcision program on the incidence of HIV in men,” say the researchers.
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