1er April 2008 – Circumcision would not protect against sexually transmitted infections (STIs), despite the protective effect it would have against HIV transmission among heterosexuals.
This is the conclusion of a New Zealand study of 499 men, born in 1972 and 1973.1. According to the results, there was no significant difference between the number of cases of STIs in circumcised (24.4 cases per 1,000) and uncircumcised (23.4 cases per 1,000).
The participants, 40.3% of whom were circumcised, answered a questionnaire at the age of 21, 26 and 32 about their sexual practices and the STIs they had contracted.
The researchers only considered bacterial (chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, etc.) and viral (herpes, condyloma, etc.) infections. They left out yeast infections, scabies and crabs because they can be spread other than through sexual contact.
The results of this study are comparable to others, obtained in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, which bring together more than 16,000 men, report the researchers. These results also concluded that there was no protective effect of circumcision against the transmission of STIs.
Mélanie Robitaille – PasseportSanté.net
1. Dickson NP, van Roode T, et al. Circumcision and risk of sexually transmitted infections in a birth cohort, J Pediatr, March 2008, vol 152 no 3, p. 383-7.
