03. 27. 2009
Circumcised men are good for women
Male circumcision protects both men and women from several sexually transmitted infections, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Despite its regional-sounding name, NEJM is possibly the world's best medical journal and certainly one of the top five. Which means this news is to be taken very seriously indeed.
The study showed that, when their male partners are circumcised, women are less likely to get both bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis, that crazy-making itching and burning of the vagina commonly known as trich. In addition, circumcision reduced the risk of 3 other sex-related diseases for men: HIV (the AIDS virus), herpes simplex virus Type 2, and human papilloma virus (HPV). That's also terrific news for women, because if a guy isn't infected, his woman partner won't get infected either - and HIV and HPV aren't just infuriating, they are killers.
An editorial accompanying the study notes approvingly that the American Academy of Pediatrics is rethinking its previous position that the evidence wasn't good enough to recommend circumcision for boy babies. It concludes, "evidence now strongly suggests that circumcision offers an important prevention opportunity and should be widely available."
The study and editorial are subscription-only, unfortunately. But you can read a bit about it here.
Posted by Tam
Category:
body
| current affairs
| science
Tags: health medicine
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Comments (2)
I'm pretty sure that an acceptable level of personal hygiene would produce much the same effect.
Besides, foreskins are fun to play with.
I'm glad I live in Europe, where most guys are uncircumsised :)
KitKat | March 27, 2009 1:10 PM
March 27, 2009 13:10
I'm sure as more and more women become aware of this that they will want their husband, boyfriend, etc., circumcised.
Dan | April 1, 2009 10:11 PM
April 1, 2009 22:11