CIRCUMCISED men are nearly seven times less likely to become infected with HIV, according to a study carried out in India, but the practice provides no protection against other sexually transmitted diseases.
Numerous recent studies have suggested that circumcised men are less likely to contract HIV (New Scientist, 8 July 2000, p 18). But the latest study is the best evidence yet that it is the absence of the foreskin, rather than associated cultural factors, that makes infection less likely.
A team led by Robert Bollinger at Johns Hopkins University Medical School in Baltimore, Maryland, studied 2300 uninfected men…
