More Setbacks in HIV Prevention

Last year’s Retrovirus Conference featured promising news about the protective effects of male circumcision (ACC Apr 2 2007). This year’s meeting, however, delivered more bad news than good in the field of HIV prevention.

Researchers described two new studies on male circumcision, both of which were nested within the larger circumcision study conducted in Rakai, Uganda. In the first study, circumcision of HIV-infected men with CD4 counts >350 cells/mm³ was not associated with a reduction in HIV transmission to their wives; in fact, if sex was resumed before wound healing was complete, circumcision was potentially associated with an increased likelihood of transmission [Abstract 33LB]. Rates of other sexually transmitted infections were simil…