So, you think circumcision prevents STDs?

Since researchers published the first study reporting that circumcision is an effective intervention in the HIV/AIDS fight, many have been suspect of the findings. It now appears that those suspicions were well founded.

I have been appraised of a letter to the editor of The Lancet, the journal of The British Medical Association from lead researcher, William Bailey. In the letter, Bailey shares some previously unpublished information about his study.

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607607387/fulltext

In Bailey's letter, he shares that the intervention group (the circumcised men) reported condom use up from 22% to 36%. That is the exact increase to gain a 61% protective factor. This indicates that the men's circumcisions played no part in the lower infection rate but instead, the condoms were the protective factor. In the later studies that reported 48% and 52% protective factors, it would indicate that circumcision actually increased the men's susceptibility to HIV/AIDS.

Additionally, the circumcised group reported that they had reduced their number of sexual partners. The percentage of men with more than two sexual partners decreased from 42% to 33%. This would put them at less risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

This new information turns the studies completely upside down and appear to strongly suggest that the circumcised men were substantially more likely to contract HIV/AIDS.