Male Circumcision and Cervical Cancer Prevention for Women

Men who have been circumcised gain double protection against AIDS and the virus that causes cervical cancer in women, research shows. Three new studies show that circumcision reduces the risk of both sexually transmitted infections in men and possibly their future sexual partners. The reports, published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, will fuel the debate over whether men - and newborn boys - should be circumcised.

Men and women can catch human papilloma virus - the virus that causes cervical cancer - if they have sex with someone else who has it. Condoms lower women's chances of contracting HPV but do not rule it out.

However, the latest findings show that women are less likely to become infected if their partner has been circumcised.

Dr. Bertran Auvert of the University of Versailles in France and colleagues in South Africa tested more than 1,200 men visiting a clinic in South Africa. They found under 15 per cent of the circumcised men and 22 per cent of the uncircumcised men were infected with the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is the main cause of cervical cancer and genital warts. This finding explains why women with circumcised partners are at a lower risk of cervical cancer than other women.