Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - August 11, 2008
Lawrence K. Altman
The study was one of three that were stopped before their scheduled completion when statistical analyses showed important benefits for circumcision.
There was no question about the ethical need for an early stop of the trials. But some health workers were skeptical that the protection would continue if the trials had been allowed to continue more than two years.
The skeptics contended that many of the circumcised men might still become infected over time.
"The new results dispel the concerns" because they show sustained, and possibly stronger, benefit, said Dr. Robert C. Bailey of the University of Illinois at Chicago. His study in Kisumu, Kenya, was stopped 24 months after many of its participants were circumcised.
At that point, the participants were told the study's results and offered circumcision. The researchers continued to observe the number of infections among the circumcised and uncircumcised groups.
In the circumcision group, 24, or 2.6 percent of men became infected compared with 65, or 7.4 percent, among the uncircumcised group over three and a half years of follow-up. Statistical techniques showed the procedure reduced the chances of H.I.V. infection by 64 percent.
Dr. Bailey said his team planned to follow the men until September 2009.
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