RIO DE JANEIRO, July 26 (AFP) - Male circumcision can reduce the risk of transmitting the AIDS virus during sex, and could be a valuable tool in AIDS prevention programs, according to a study presented Tuesday at the third annual International Aids Society congress.
According to Bertrand Auvert of France's National Agency for AIDS Research, studies conducted in Africa between 2002 and 2005 suggest that circumcised men are at lower risk of being infected with the HIV virus that causes the deadly disease.
"The prevalence of HIV is lower among populations who traditionally practice circumcision compared to those in Africa as well as in Southeast Asia where the majority of men are not circumcised," Auvert said.
The study monitored 3,000 men between 18 and 24 in Subsaharan Africa, a region with some of the world's highest HIV infection rates.
According to Auvert, the uncircumcised penis is more likely to transmit AIDS because the male's foreskin permits a moist environment that favors HIV's survival and reproduction.
He also said that the moist foreskin also helps the transmission of other kinds of sex-related diseases.
However, the United Nations' AIDS program and the World Health Organization warned that the study's results were not conclusive and that more research was needed to understand whether circumcision was truly effective in blocking HIV transmission.
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