| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Africa Subsaharan | |
| Circumcision — better than any AIDS 'vaccine' | |
| 2007-02-24 | |
| Circumcision may provide even more protection against AIDS than was realized when two clinical trials in Africa were stopped two months ago because the results were so clear, the International Herald Tribune reported on Friday. The trials, in Kenya and Uganda, were stopped early by the National Institute of Health, which was paying for them, because it was apparent that circumcision reduced a manÂ’s risk of contracting AIDS from heterosexual sex by about half. It would have been unethical to continue without offering circumcision to all 8,000 men in the trials, federal health officials said. That decision, announced on December 13, made headlines around the world and led the two largest funds for fighting AIDS to say they would consider paying for circumcisions in high-risk countries. But the final data from the trials, to be published on Friday in the British medical journal The Lancet, suggest that circumcision reduces a manÂ’s risk by as much as 65 percent.
Re-evaluating the data, excluding a few men whose H.I.V. status was misdiagnosed during the trial and combining the results of three trials — those in Uganda and Kenya as well as one in South Africa that was stopped in 2005 when the protective effect became apparent — produces a protection rate of about 65 percent. Dr Anthony S Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which paid for the trials, said he planned to keep saying officially that circumcision cuts a man’s risk by about half, not by 65 percent, because the validity of clinical trials depends on following randomised groups of patients, not selected ones. “But, yes, the 65 percent makes me feel better,” he conceded. “This is a one-time, permanent intervention that’s safe when done under the appropriate medical conditions. If we had an AIDS vaccine that was performing as well as this, it would be the talk of the town,” he said. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #13 Circumcision — better than any AIDS 'vaccine' note to gays everywhere: a complete dick-ectomy works wonders and you can whine about it afterwards. [sic boost victim status] |
| Posted by: RD 2007-02-24 23:08 |
| #12 bathhouse behavior including v1agra and meth are a huge reason for the increase in HIV and STDs in the gay community. They don't want to explain that. The propaganda is that we are all equally at risk for HIV/AIDS. We aren't. If circumcision keeps men from getting HIV in heterosexual relations (for the most part), they will lose the "it affects ALL of us", especially since uninfected men can't infect uninfected women. It's the $ and national attention PR campaign without addressing the worst case causes and situations |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-02-24 18:04 |
| #11 IIUC, the gay lobby has long worked against finding a cure for HIV. Neutralizing HIV would eliminate the victimhood platform and the research-grant gravy train. Much as eliminating prejudice would for [insert opportunistic "aggrieved" minority group here]. |
| Posted by: exJAG 2007-02-24 17:39 |
| #10 I'm probably going to regret asking, but why would the homosexual lobby be exercised about circumcision? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-02-24 14:52 |
| #9 The gay lobby won't like this. |
| Posted by: Spot 2007-02-24 14:30 |
| #8 Yes, circumcision can be a difficult recovery. After I was circumcised, I couldn't walk for a year. Circumcision is definitely one of those procedures that is best performed early! Hey, it worked and still works (and probably will work, for a loooong time) for me! And the world rejoices! Just kidding. I bet you really have all the HOT French babes with the plaited underarm hair making booty calls at all hours! ;-) I am so jealous! |
| Posted by: Chiper Threreger8956 2007-02-24 12:44 |
| #7 Living a life of abstinence devoid of pleasure and human contact works even better. Hey, it worked and still works (and probably will work, for a loooong time) for me! |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-02-24 12:05 |
| #6 Not stickin' that head somewhere it wasn't designed or intended to go works wonders too in the prevention of AIDS or so I'm told. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2007-02-24 10:24 |
| #5 Yes, circumcision can be a difficult recovery. After I was circumcised, I couldn't walk for a year. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2007-02-24 10:17 |
| #4 I don't have one, so I am kiinda ignorant about this, BUT... Wasn't the argument originally that male circumcision was only recommended when bathing was not done adequately-the skin was not pulled back and the penis cleansed thoroughly on a daily basis? Wouldn't that be preferable? Have they done any studies comparing infection rates in those that bathe adequately to those that are circumcised? I would hate to see circumcision as currently done (without anesthesia) become unquestioned, codified practice worldwide-in part, out of sympathy for baby boys who go though it, and in part for selfish reasons; I can just hear all the brilliant Horn of Africa doctors talk about how female "circumcision" needs to be done to prevent HIV/AIDS, too. |
| Posted by: Jules 2007-02-24 08:39 |
| #3 Living a life of abstinence devoid of pleasure and human contact works even better. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-02-24 08:38 |
| #2 The fact is that because the tip of the penis spends all time without a protective layer of skin its outer layer becomes abit skin like. This skin like tissue who is probably formed of dead cells could be less vulnerable to infection than in a normal penis. Note that an adult man has a nulmber of involuntary erections during the night so after an operation he will be scream from pian there or four times a night for months. Note that circumcision does nothing to presvent infection to the woman so it can have an indirectly negative effect as men becom less careful, thus increasing the number of infected women thus increasing teh number of expôsures to "protected" men.. |
| Posted by: JFM 2007-02-24 06:40 |
| #1 Well hey! If circumcision cuts it by 50% then think what castration might do! Hehehe |
| Posted by: DanNY 2007-02-24 06:02 |