It's widely accepted among scientists that circumcision helps to reduce a man’s chances of getting HIV. A new study may shed some light on the reasoning, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The study supports the theory that bad bacteria are given a home under the foreskin of the male penis. When that foreskin is removed by circumcision there is no place for the bacteria to live.
According to Dr. Cindy Liu, leader of the study, circumcision can be likened to when you lift a rock on a dirt-filled area. Just like the millions of bugs and critters that disperse when the rock is lifted, bacteria also disappear when the foreskin is no longer there. Liu is a pathologist at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Flagstaff, Arizona.
"It's the same as if you clear-cut a forest," she said. "The community of animals that once lived in that forest is going to change.”
According to Liu, cutting away the foreskin takes away a home for anaerobic bacteria that love to live in areas where there is no oxygen. Studies have shown that cutting the foreskin can reduce the chance of catching HIV—in men that have heterosexual intercourse—by anywhere from 50 percent to 60 percent.
The study was done with 5,000 Ugandan participants ages 15-49. According to Dr. Aaron Tobian, co-author of the study and an epidemiologist and pathologist who also teaches at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, doing the test in a place where 1 in 6 people suffer from HIV was pretty big motivation.
The study found that after one year of surgery, there was a reduction of 81 percent for the bacteria seen the participants.
Men who were not circumcised also saw a drop in bacteria. However, this may be due to the information on hygiene that was given to all participants.
"That's not an uncommon outcome," said Liu. "Just being in a trial can confer some benefits."
Liu and her team published their study in the journal mBio on Tuesday,
Read the full article here.
