Circumcision Reduces AIDS Risk by 65%, Say Final Results of African Studies

Circumcision reduces a man’s risk of contracting AIDS by as much as 65 percent, according to the final results of clinical trials in Africa that were halted last year when preliminary findings suggested a clear advantage to men who had been circumcised. The final results are to be published today in The Lancet, a British medical journal, according to The New York Times. The initial findings, announced in December, were so clear-cut that the National Institutes of Health, the sponsor of the trials, decided it would be unethical to withhold treatment from men in the control group. The results appear to settle a bitter dispute over the efficacy of mass-circumcision campaigns as a way to prevent HIV transmission in Africa.