S. African AIDS Expert Urges Circumcision

[CountAllVotes]

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - A South African AIDS expert Saturday advocated male circumcision as the best available "vaccine" against the virus in his country, where an estimated 6 million people are infected and more than 600 people die every day.

Francois Venter told a congress of health activists in the Treatment Action Campaign that a recent survey in the Soweto township indicated that circumcised men were 65 percent less likely to contract AIDS than those who had not been circumcised.

"We dream of a vaccine which has this efficacy," said Venter, clinical director of the Reproductive Health and HIV Research at the University of Witwatersrand. "The results are phenomenal."

The association between circumcision and a reduced risk of HIV was noted as early as 1987, when Dr. William Cameron of the University of Manitoba in Canada reported findings from a study in Kenya. Some researchers in early studies have said they believe cells in the foreskin may be particularly susceptible to infection.

Venter urged the Treatment Action Campaign, an influential movement of 13,000 activists, to consider promoting circumcision as a vital prevention tool, given that existing methods were failing to slow the spread of the epidemic.

more:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050924/ap_on_he_me/south_africa_aids

:dem:

[madeline_con]

1. existing methods were failing to slow the spread of the epidemic.

Like having sex with a virgin? :eyes:

[CountAllVotes]

2. frankly ...

I'm not a man but I really do not see how circumcision would prevent the spread of AIDS. :dunce: IMO.

To slow the spread of AIDS money is required for education and also prevention techniques not only discussed but provided. :argh:

:kick:

[msongs]

3. lotta money in mutilating boy children...but its ok to mutilate boys

for some reason.


Msongs
www.msongs.com/clark2008.htm

[Orrin_73]

10. Circumcision is NOT mutilation

about 52% percent of US newborn males are circumcised. I was circumsized to I dont see it as mutilation.

[jayctravis]

12. Male circumcision doesn't interfere with anything...

In many circles it was/is thought that circumcision helped with hygiene, however it's pretty much an unnecessary process.

The only part that bugs me is that I've read it's done on newborns without anasthesia.

[LeftyMom]

17. Except erection, lubrication and sensitivity

and yes, the vast majority of the circumcisions in this country are done with little to no anesthetic or with anesthetic applied too soon to take full effect.

[jayctravis]

19. I learn something new everyday on Democratic Underground!

I have been circumsized since I can remember, so I did not know there were magical things a foreskin could do!!

[madeline_con]

4. It won't.

There is the belief that sex with virgins will cure it.

What's needed is REAL education programs, and condoms, instead of superstition and the Pope's edicts about birth control helping spread the disease. :mad:

[pansypoo53219]

5. apparently

a lot of gunk can grow in there. like athelete's foot in shoes.
and in a place were bathing is not the easiest......

[Yupster]

6. It's called smegma

The buildup that hides under the foreskin that smells bad and can be made up of a touch of sweat, urine, semen and anything else that likes to grow in moist, dark places.

Certainly it can be cleaned with regular bathing and showers, but not everyone has regular bathing and showers and soap and running water.

We all call for education.

If circumcision really makes a significant difference and it appears it does, then let's tell people about it and educate them of the fact.

[jayctravis]

20. Which proves that the whole "don't touch yourself down there"

brigade is wrong. Sounds like if you have a foreskin (I don't) the only issue is being informed of how to clean it.

I mean, my freaking keyboard comes with a care and cleaning manual...

Is it possible that the idea of circumsicion is to *keep* someone from having to bother messing down there?

[Betsy Ross]

7. Check for studies of reduced disease

in women married to circumscribed men.

[Kailassa]

8. Where there's a Willy there's a Way.

A great idea, but why stop there? If we take this idea to its logical extreme we can prevent the spread of aids competely. :evilgrin:

[Centered]

13. round up everyone with aids and burn them?

:sarcasm:

[TheWraith]

9. Useless.

Even if it does decrease the risk, it will do no good. People who haven't been educated as to the nature of the disease will believe that they're immune, then go out and engage in even riskier behavior, eliminating any benefit they may have gotten.

[Akoto]

11. I'm not circumcized. My opinion is ...

Lopping off a guy's foreskin doesn't lower the risk of AIDS. Education does. If people know to be cautious, know how and when to use protection and don't rely upon dated superstition to guide them, THEN you will see the spread of this disease slow.

[kestrel91316]

15. Sorry but your opinion, while you are entitled to it, is not relevant.

The reason circumcision results in decreased transmission of HIV is THIS: when a man has a foreskin, it is easy for him to have hidden, undiagnosed lesions of syphilis and other genital diseases where the skin is no longer intact. The HIV virus has an easy time getting in via this "weak" spot.

Syphilis transmission rates are lower and therefore HIV transmission rates are lower where there is no foreskin to cover up all manner of ills. This is not theory.This has been talked about and researched in the medical community for YEARS.

[Centered]

14. This would be relevent if aids were only transmiited via sex... nt

[LeftyMom]

16. While adult men can do whatever the hell they want

I hope they're not advocating infant circumcision. A boy's penis is his own and nobody should perform surgery on it without his informed consent, except in the case of injury or serious defects.

The issue of circumsicion and AIDS rate is a bit more conplicated than they admit, too. There's more data on that than I can share here, I'd encourage anyone interested in the issue to read teh fact sheet from CIRP. http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/HIV/

[Opusnone]

18. CONDOMS WILL SAVE THE WORLD

Distribute widely, educate on usage and within our generation condoms will save the world. Enough hocus pocus and superstition.