Circumcision found not affective in HIV prevention in gay men

Adult circumcision in gay men may only have a small effect on HIV prevention, according to a study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

Healthcare experts are trying to find successful methods of lowering the number of individuals in the gay community contracting the virus, but the HIV-population is still rising. In 2006, of the estimated 56,300 new cases of HIV in the U.S., approximately 53 percent of the new diagnoses were found in gay or bisexual men, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

Previous international studies had found that circumcision lowered the risk of contracting HIV in heterosexual men, but results have yet to be found showing the same effect on homosexual men.

In order to better understand how the virus is affecting this population, investigators surveyed 521 gay and bisexual men residing in San Francisco. Researchers found that 115 participants had tested positive for the virus and 327 were circumcised.

Of the remaining 69 individuals, only three men said they would volunteer for a clinical trial involving circumcision and HIV prevention, and four reported they would get the procedure done if it was proven to protect against contracting the virus.

Chongyi Wei, lead author of the study, stated that "our study indicates that any potential benefit may likely be too small to justify implementing circumcision programs as an intervention for HIV prevention."