Circumcision may stop millions of HIV deaths-study

[Tinijocaro]

Apparently, IV drug use is a rising problem in Sub-Saharan Africa as well.

Africa’s IV Drug Users Need HIV Ed

June 28, 2006—With heroin and cocaine trafficking on the rise in Southern Africa, injection drug use is up too—but HIV prevention is way behind, according to researchers at a recent U.S. Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) conference. Most drug users did not know how to clean needles and often shared the same needle up to 15 times.

http://www.poz.com/articles/1_7259.shtml

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

Are you not considering iv drug use as a source of HIV transmission?

Exactly. According to this study, circumcision only seems to protect men from contracting HIV from female-to-male transmission. That's why I think the study I posted has the best data as it was all heterosexual males in a high endemic area, where the determining/differentiating factor seemed to be the presence of a foreskin.

 

[DawnCt1]

If circumstances permit, circumcision should not be performed, IMO, until the patient is old enough to make their own mind up. However, circumstances don't always permit.

It's a balance thing as far as I'm concerned.



Rich::

Having worked as a nurse on a urology floor, circumcision is an "elective" surgery that most males would chose to avoid or if they could, wish themselves back to infancy to have it done then. It isn't pleasant and requires quite a few sutures that can stretch at inoportune moments. Of course, amyl nitrate can handle that, as long as they can find it in time.

 

[Tinijocaro]

I sure wish I could've delivered my babies during my infancy, but alas, the choice was never given to me. Oh-remembering the pain!

 

[DawnCt1]

http://www.norm.org/lost.html

However, many men do know what they are missing, and are quite ticked about it and are doing something about it.

http://norm.org/

.

Any man, who gets that exercised about what more than half (and I would guess that is a modest figure) of the men in the United States have had done, has some problems that the restoration of their foreskin probably won't solve.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

Having worked as a nurse on a urology floor, circumcision is an "elective" surgery that most males would chose to avoid or if they could, wish themselves back to infancy to have it done then. It isn't pleasant and requires quite a few sutures that can stretch at inoportune moments. Of course, amyl nitrate can handle that, as long as they can find it in time.

Isn't it true that only uncircumcised men can get penile cancer? I seem to remember an anatomy professor saying something about that. According to him, only men who were 1.) elderly 2.) had poor hygene and 3.) were uncircumcised can develop penile cancer.

 

[DawnCt1]

Isn't it true that only uncircumcised men can get penile cancer? I seem to remember an anatomy professor saying something about that. According to him, only men who were 1.) elderly 2.) had poor hygene and 3.) were uncircumcised can develop penile cancer.

Its a rare disorder but uncirmcumsized men and those with a history of genital warts are at the greatest risk for developing penile cancer. Its extraordinarily rare in Jewish men who are all circumsized at birth.

 

[Tinijocaro]

Isn't it true that only uncircumcised men can get penile cancer? I seem to remember an anatomy professor saying something about that. According to him, only men who were 1.) elderly 2.) had poor hygene and 3.) were uncircumcised can develop penile cancer.

Untrue. While penile cancer is extrememly rare in either circumcised or intact there is a slightly higher incidence in intact men. Circumcised men can get it too.

To illustrate how rare penile cancer is in all men, more MEN get BREAST cancer than penile cancer. How many men do you know who have breast cancer?

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

I just looked it up in my old anatomy notes. "Risk factors for penile cancer in men-- poor hygene and uncircumcised elderly patients."

Actually, I do know a man who had breast cancer.

 

[DawnCt1]

Untrue. While penile cancer is extrememly rare in either circumcised or intact there is a slightly higher incidence in intact men. Circumcised men can get it too.

To illustrate how rare penile cancer is in all men, more MEN get BREAST cancer than penile cancer. How many men do you know who have breast cancer?

Breast cancer in males is not that rare, accounting for 1% of all breast cancer. The incidence of penile cancer in circumsized males is extremely rare.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3046.htm

"The disease rarely occurs in circumcised men, particularly if they were circumcised as a neonate... Circumcision has been well established as an effective prophylactic measure for this type of cancer. Data from most large series have demonstrated that the disease is almost never observed in individuals who are circumcised in the neonatal period. "

 

[Tinijocaro]

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3046.htm

"The disease rarely occurs in circumcised men, particularly if they were circumcised as a neonate. "

I agree with your quote, but one can also say "The disease rarely occurs in intact men"

I guess if I were going for prevention, I'd attempt to prevent something that was not a rare disease.

Dawn- I also knew of one man who had breast cancer. My point was just to show that most people don't know hords of men with breast cancer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it's one of the more common types of cancer among men.

 

[snowwite]

Interesting subject. After discussing it with a pediatrician and a urologist we decided not to subject my son to routine infant circumcision. The reasons provided to me for and against made this an easy decision. I have been told that I should have had it done because he will not look like his father and he might be upset when he is older.My response is his dad amputated a thumb in an accident. Does that mean we should also amputate my son's thumb when they amputate his forskin? I mean we do want him to look exactly like dad. This does not make sense. It amazes me that we calmly allow this to be done to our sons but if we were talking about routinely removing female babies clitorus I think we would all consider the practice barbaric. To the OP I wonder why you brought it up. Are you a new parent? Aids activist? Just stirring the pot?

 

[Tinijocaro]

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3046.htm

"... Circumcision has been well established as an effective prophylactic measure for this type of cancer. "

This is what the American Cancer Society says:

In the past, circumcision has been suggested as a way to prevent penile cancer. This suggestion was based on studies that reported much lower penile cancer rates among circumcised men than among uncircumcised men. However, most researchers now believe those studies were flawed because they failed to consider other factors that are now known to affect penile cancer risk...The current consensus of most experts is that circumcision should not be recommended as a prevention strategy for penile cancer.

 

[hentob]

I'm not at all surprised that none of your circumcised friends mourn the loss of their foreskins. They have know idea what they are missing- all they know is the portion they've been allowed to keep. You don't know what you've never had. Here is a list of what they are missing. This is a list of everything a man loses when he is circumcised.

http://www.norm.org/lost.html

This is a quote from the above website.............

Circumcision performed during infancy disrupts the bonding process between child and mother. There are indications that the innate sense of trust in intimate human contact is inhibited or lost. It can also have significant adverse effects on neurological development. Additionally, an infant's self-confidence and hardiness is diminished by forcing the newborn victim into a defensive psychological state of "learned helplessness" or
"acquired passivity" to cope with the excruciating pain which he can
neither fight nor flee.

As far as I am concerned, it sounds like propaganda. Circumcision now disrupts a mother bonding with her son Now I have heard it all

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

Funny that you mention the American Cancer Society, because they also weigh in about the original topic, STD's (which we have strayed from).

"Circumcision is the removal of a part or all of the foreskin at birth or later on in life. In the United States, men who are circumcised in childhood have a lower rate of penile cancer. It’s not known whether this is due to the absence of the foreskin or other lifestyle factors. Recent studies have found that circumcised men are less likely to be infected with HPV, even after this risk is adjusted for differences in sexual behavior. Other studies suggest that circumcision may reduce the risk of more invasive forms of penile cancer."

 

[JennyMominRI]

Interesting subject. After discussing it with a pediatrician and a urologist we decided not to subject my son to routine infant circumcision. The reasons provided to me for and against made this an easy decision. I have been told that I should have had it done because he will not look like his father and he might be upset when he is older.My response is his dad amputated a thumb in an accident. Does that mean we should also amputate my son's thumb when they amputate his forskin? I mean we do want him to look exactly like dad. This does not make sense. It amazes me that we calmly allow this to be done to our sons but if we were talking about routinely removing female babies clitorus I think we would all consider the practice barbaric. To the OP I wonder why you brought it up. Are you a new parent? Aids activist? Just stirring the pot?

There are many people on this board affected by AIDS..Even living with AIDS in my and some other cases .IT's an important topc and relevent to a board with lots of parents.
FTR, agree with you about Circ though..My DH is circed DS 11 is not...Neither one of them cares and DS has never really noticed

 

[Tinijocaro]

Any man, who gets that exercised about what more than half (and I would guess that is a modest figure) of the men in the United States have had done, has some problems that the restoration of their foreskin probably won't solve.

That's it, just say they all have mental problems. I think that was a bit of a cop-out response, and I'm surprised it came from you.

I know for me, if I found out as an adult that an important part of me had been taken, and that my sexual function had been changed, even slightly, I'd do what I could non-surgically to get it back. I don't think that would mean I'm a whack job, just someone who doesn't like other people messing with MY body.

How about the women in Africa who have undergone circumcision (let's talk about the more common clitoral hood removal, rather than the rare infubulation). Do they have a right to be upset and want back whaat was taken from them or do they have mental problems too?

 

[Tinijocaro]

Funny that you mention the American Cancer Society, because they also weigh in about the original topic, STD's (which we have strayed from).

"Circumcision is the removal of a part or all of the foreskin at birth or later on in life. In the United States, men who are circumcised in childhood have a lower rate of penile cancer. It’s not known whether this is due to the absence of the foreskin or other lifestyle factors. Recent studies have found that circumcised men are less likely to be infected with HPV, even after this risk is adjusted for differences in sexual behavior. Other studies suggest that circumcision may reduce the risk of more invasive forms of penile cancer."

Well, this may or may not be true, I guess we'll never know, but as for penile cancer, it's still a rare disease for all men, so I'm not going to spend much time worrying about it. What other rare diseases should we have amputative surgery for?

Also, earlier, I posted about the immunological functions of the prepuce and how the foreskin actually helps to prevent STD's.
http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/STD/fleiss3/

"Historically, the most common reason given for circumcision has been that it prevents ************. Today, the most common reason given is that it inhibits the transmission of STDs, even though rigorously controlled studies have consistently shown that circumcised males are at greater risk for all major STDs than males whose *****es are intact."

I find this to be interesting: past "health benefits" of circumcising:

************
headache
insanity
epilepsy
paralysis
strabismus
rectal prolapse
hydrocephalus
clubfoot

 

[Tinijocaro]

Good night- must go to bed- have to teach in the morning! I'll be back- I enjoy a lively discussion!