Two recent studies at the National Institutes of Health Clinical trials in Kenya and Uganda demonstrated that adult male circumcision could effectively halve the risk of HIV infection. Back home in Pune, studies at the National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) have shown that uncircumcised men were nearly eight times more likely to catch the virus.

‘’The studies have been conducted in association with Johns Hopkins University (JHU),’’ NARI director RS Paranjape said. NARI deputy director (senior grade) SM Mehendale was one of the authors of the joint studies undertaken by Robert C Bollinger, Steven Reynolds and others at JHU.

While the paper authored by Bollinger and Mehendale was published in 2004 in The Lancet, another recent study was published as a research letter in the prestigious journal on Friday. Mehendale said the studies were being conducted since 1993. “We examined over 2,000 patients visiting Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) clinics in Pune. A total of 191 men had already been circumcised. The entire group was enrolled for the study and a consistent follow-up was done for several years.’’

All these studies, which have followed men who are HIV-negative over a period of years, have shown that the effect of circumcision is significant. Researchers believe that cells in the foreskin may be particularly susceptible to infection and hence, circumcision helps in the prevention of HIV transmission. Mehendale, however, pointed out that circumcision did not really prevent the risk of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea, herpes and syphilis.

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