No Turtlenecks

My friends and I have an ongoing debate about circumcision, whether we are for or against and if we would have it done to our sons. Now there more ammo in favor of the procedure, which is not only a favorite of my people, but aesthetically pleasing (or in other words fly).

Circumcision not only protects against HIV in heterosexual men, but it also helps prevent two other sexually transmitted infections, a large new African study found. Circumcised males reduced their risk of infection with HPV - that's human papillomavirus - by 35% and herpes by 28%. HPV can cause cervical cancer and genital warts. Herpes greatly increases the chances of infection with HIV. However, researchers found circumcision had no effect on the transmission of syphilis, so enjoy slowly going mad with a little something extra down there.

Landmark studies from three African countries including Uganda(!) previously found circumcision lowered men's chance of catching the AIDS virus by up to 60%. Worldwide, only about 30% of men are circumcised. The figure is higher in the United States, where about 79% of men are circumcised, according to surveys by the National Center for Health Statistics. The results were similar to two recent studies from South Africa that found circumcision reduced HPV and herpes by up to a third. Researchers plan to study whether circumcision reduces the spread of HPV to female sex partners.

The latest research involved 3,393 HIV-negative heterosexual adolescent boys and men from Uganda who were part of the original HIV study. About half were randomly selected to undergo circumcision right away while the rest had the procedure 2 years later. All had physical exams and were offered voluntary HIV counseling and condoms. After two years, herpes infection was detected in 114 circumcised men compared with 153 uncircumcised men. HPV was detected in 42 circumcised men compared with 80 uncircumcised men. There was no significant difference between the two groups on rate of syphilis infections. The researchers considered condom use, number of sex partners and other factors to calculate the risk reductions. Why circumcision may reduce the risk of infection is not entirely known. But researchers think cells in the foreskin of the penis may be susceptible to HPV and the herpes virus.

The American Academy of Pediatrics previously said there was not enough evidence to recommend routine circumcision of infants but now the doctor's group is reviewing its position based on recent studies. Did you know that close to 2,800 herpes cases in newborns occur in the U.S. every year, transmitted from mothers to infants? Well, there's some learnin', free of charge.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation (so suck it, Steve Jobs and whatever you do).