Circumcision and HIV Prevention Among Men Who Have Sex With Men
No Final Word
- Sten H. Vermund, MD, PhD;
- Han-Zhu Qian, MD, PhD
- Author Affiliations: Institute for Global Health, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, and Departments of Pediatrics and Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee.
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- AFRICA
- CIRCUMCISION, MALE
- CLINICAL TRIALS AS TOPIC
- HIV INFECTIONS
- HOMOSEXUALITY
- MEN'S HEALTH
- SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES
In the late 1980s, an ecological association between high rates of male circumcision and low human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence in Africa was noted from epidemiologic, geographic, and ethnographic data.1 A meta-analysis of epidemiological studies published prior to 2000 suggested a statistically significant protective association between circumcision and HIV infection among African heterosexual men.2 A causal relationship between HIV risk reduction and male circumcision seemed likely; there was biological plausibility and consistency between studies. The studies, however, did not confirm that circumcision predated HIV risk reduction or that confounding factors might not explain the association.
One complicating factor in African studies was the Islamic practice of circumcision in the context of polygamy and lower sexual risk, as well as norms against the consumption of alcohol.3 Circumcised Muslim men in Africa may have had multiple partners, but they were also less likely to have sex outside marriage (eg, …
