Two studies of adult male circumcision to prevent HIV

Source: Medical News Today

WHAT: In December 2006, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, announced an early end to two clinical trials of adult male circumcision in Kenya and Uganda because an interim review of trial data showed that medically performed male circumcision significantly lowered a man's risk of acquiring HIV through heterosexual intercourse.

Two papers in The Lancet provide detailed analyses of these NIAID-funded trials. In the trial of 2,784 HIV-negative men in Kisumu, Kenya, the investigators found the rate of HIV acquisition in circumcised men to be 53 percent lower than in uncircumcised men. Investigators in the trial of 4,996 HIV-negative men in Rakai, Uganda, report that HIV acquisition was reduced by 51 percent in circumcised men.

ARTICLES:
"Male circumcision for HIV prevention in young men in Kisumu, Kenya: a randomised controlled trial," by R Bailey et al. The Lancet 369: 643-56 (2007). This trial was conducted by researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Manitoba and the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

"Male circumcision for HIV prevention in men in Rakai, Uganda: a randomised trial," by R Gray et al. The Lancet 369: 657-66 (2007). This trial was conducted by scientists from The Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, Baltimore, and Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Copies of these articles are available in the library.
Online access is also possible on the Lancet's Website (free registration required)