new YORK (Reuters) – circumcised men have a risk slightly less than developing prostate cancer than males that preserve the foreskin, according to a study done in United States.
The World Health Organization (who) recommends circumcision after evidence in favour of that reduces the risk of heterosexual men to contract HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
A group of scientists also said last year that wives and partners of circumcised men had lower rate of infection with the virus of human papillomavirus or HPV, which in some cases can cause cervical cancer and other types of cancer.
And last week, some researchers said that African men who were circumcised were less likely to be infected with a particular herpes virus.
The new study, published in the journal Cancer, coincided with those findings but could not demonstrate that a child to remove the foreskin decreases your future risk of developing cancer, said Dr. Jonathan l. Wright, lead author of the research.
“Would not defend the widespread use of circumcision to prevent prostate cancer”, said Wright, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research, Seattle Center. “We note an association, but that does not prove causality,” argued.
Although most of United States men are circumcised, the procedure has become less popular over the last decade and several groups have felt against him.
In September, the Royal Dutch Medical Association discouraging the circumcision, as a “painful and damaging ritual”.
A few weeks later, California Governor Jerry Brown rejected an initiative to ban circumcision from San Francisco to argue that you affect religious freedom.
Relationship CANCER-VIRUS?
The Wright team compared two groups of more than 1,360 men that had responded to questionnaires about the medical background, sexual life and if they were circumcised. Half of the men had prostate cancer.
The 69 per cent of that group was circumcised, compared with 72 percent of the control group, suggesting the existence of a protective effect of circumcision.
Even after considering other factors, such as age, ethnicity, and the research of prostate cancer, the group without foreskin had a 15 percent lower risk of developing the disease. Only males circumcised prior to the sexual had low risk of developing the cancer.
The foreskin is prone to have small tears during intercourse, which allows viruses and bacteria from entering the bloodstream.
According Wright, some virus activated cancer when they reach the human DNA. Another possibility is that STD microorganisms cause cancer to produce chronic inflammation.
That would explain the relationship that identified several research groups between different types of sexually transmitted infection and prostate cancer.
One in six Americans will develop prostate cancer in his lifetime, although only a minority will die from the disease.
Wright felt that his Studio, which is the largest its kind conducted so far, pointed more to find explanations about the appearance of the cancer than to prevent it. “We need more studies to understand it,” said.
“Our ultimate goal is to know how cancer occurs in people,” stressed.
