QC FYI: Circumcision Protects Against HIV

Circumcision can help protect gay men from contracting HIV depending on their sex habits, landmark Australian research has found. But the controversial findings have sparked alarm among HIV educators concerned that homosexual men will throw out their condoms if they’ve had the snip, wrongly believing they are naturally protected.
“We have shown for the first time that men who predominantly take on the insertive role in sex are less likely to contract HIV if they’ve been circumcised,” said Dr David Templeton, from the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research in Sydney. “That’s very interesting, but most HIV infections are contracted in the receptive role, so what we’re talking about is a risk reduction for a small group of men who didn’t have a huge risk in the first place.”
University of NSW researchers recruited 1,400 HIV-negative men, two-thirds of whom were circumcised, and tracked them over four years to analyse patterns in HIV infection. Over that time, 53 developed HIV.
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