Link to uncircumcised males found.(Brief Article)

2002 MAY 9 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women whose sex partners are circumcised may be less likely to get cervical cancer, a study suggests.

Cervical cancer is caused by the same virus responsible for genital warts.

The study in the April 11, 2002, New England Journal of Medicine found that men with intact foreskins were three times more likely than circumcised men to be infected with the human papillomavirus. That, in turn, may increase the risk of passing the virus on to their sex partners.

The theory is that the skin in the inner lining of the foreskin is especially vulnerable to the virus.

"It will certainly fuel the ongoing debate about the merits of circumcision," said Dr. Michael Thun, an American Cancer Society epidemiologist not involved in the study. He said it raises the question of whether circumcision can reduce the spread of AIDS, too.

Studies dating back to at least 1988 have suggested that circumcision offers some protection against AIDS, but the research does not prove it and more definitive studies are under way.

The cervical cancer study, conducted by researchers in Spain and four other countries, looked at nearly 3800 women, half of whom had cervical cancer, half of whom were cancer free.