The results were announced at a U.N. consultation in Switzerland on Tuesday regarding the potential impact of male circumcision on AIDS in Africa. Experts suggest that though circumcision may reduce men's chances of contracting HIV by up to 60 percent, the procedure may put women at increased risk of infection.
However, experts said that the results were not conclusive because other factors, like condom use, could have varied among the people they studied, although they were all given free condoms and educated about HIV prevention.
The research suggested that there is a period immediately following surgery when men may more easily transmit the virus to their female partners. It is considered as the most infectious period for HIV transmission to women.
According to AP reports, scientists at the Rakai Health Sciences Program and Makerere University in Uganda and the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the U.S. tracked 997 HIV-positive men in Uganda and their female partners.
It was found that among 70 men with HIV who were circumcised, 11 of their female partners became infected with the HIV in the month after the surgery as compared to other group in which only four partners of 54 uncircumcised men with HIV passed on the infection.
Increased HIV transmission occurred in men who had sex before they had properly healed from the circumcision. The findings prove a good alternative to protect women in the search for ways to fight AIDS.
Dr. Maria Wawer, the study's lead investigator and a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said, "We need to err on the side of caution to protect women in any future male circumcision program."
Experts have also warned that though male circumcision is considered good to prevent HIV infection, it should only be considered as an additional prevention strategy rather than a replacement for other AIDS control methods like condoms.
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