Circumcision cuts STI risk

Last updated: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 Print

Circumcised males are much less likely to catch or spread sexually transmitted infections (STIs), New Zealand researchers say.

Their study included 356 uncircumcised males and 154 circumcised males who filled out a questionnaire about the presence of STIs when they were between 18 and 25 years old, reported China's Xinhua news agency.

2.66-fold increased risk for uncircumcised
Compared to the circumcised men, the uncircumcised men had a 2.66-fold increased risk of STI infection, the study found. This elevated risk remained largely unchanged even after the researchers accounted for other risk factors, such as unprotected sex and number of sexual partners.

The study appears in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The researchers said their findings suggest that routine neonatal circumcision offers "substantial benefits," Xinhua reported.

"The public health issues raised by these findings clearly involve weighing the longer-term benefits of routine neonatal circumcision in terms of reducing the risks of infection within the population, against the perceived costs of the procedure," the study authors wrote.

However, the American Academy of Paediatrics says that current evidence is insufficient to support routine neonatal circumcision, Xinhua reported. – (HealthDayNews)

Read more:
Circumcision may fight HIV
STIs and safer sex

November 2006