Unkindest Cut Debate Revived By Hiv Trials
Sun Herald
Sunday May 13, 2007
THE Royal Australasian College of Physicians is reviewing its stance against circumcision following new research that shows the procedure can cut the risk of HIV infection.
The college's director of policy and communications, Gary Disher, said a review team was looking at all the recent research on circumcision and a revised policy statement was due later this year. "I'm hopeful that both sides of the spectrum of this debate will be at least considered within this policy," Mr Disher said. In Australia circumcision has been avoided by doctors for at least a generation, with many believing it unnecessary.While the procedure is still performed in Jewish and Muslim families, it's estimated that only 10 to 20 per cent of male infants are circumcised in Australia, though many parents have struck criticism if they have inquired about the procedure.But now circumcision is making a comeback. The World Health Organisation recently changed its recommendations based on "compelling" evidence about its impact on reducing the risk of HIV infection in men. The recommendation came after three trials undertaken in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa found that it reduced the risk of heterosexually acquired HIV infection in men by about 60 per cent. University of Melbourne's Professor Roger Short, who is researching the distribution of HIV receptors in the penis, believes the recent research will lead to "quite a major switch" in people's attitudes.He says there is also compelling evidence that circumcised men have a much lower risk of infection from human papillomavirus, which can cause penile cancer in men and cervical cancer in women. He dismisses the idea that condoms are sufficient protection against HIV, saying circumcision is an extra precaution. But pediatrician George Williams, co-founder of Circumcision Information Australia, described the research results as "nonsense". He said the African studies were not truly controlled trials and other factors may have contributed."The countries that practise circumcision almost exclusively, like America, they've got one of the highest HIV rates in the world, so how can you claim that circumcision protects against HIV?" he said.
© 2007 Sun Herald
