International AIDS Society conference update. Male circumcision as a prevention method? Study was controversial from day one.

Investigators presented evidence at the July International AIDS Society conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in that male circumcision helps reduce the risk of HIV infection among men who have sex with women. The study showed that circumcised men were more than 60% less likely than uncircumcised men to be infected with HIV when having sex with infected female partners. The news was not welcomed by all quarters. Anti-circumcision activists quickly called on the United Nations to classify circumcision of children younger than age 18 as a human rights crime.