The
foreskin debate has raged for decades. Claims and counter-claims over
hygiene, medical conditions, sexual performance and the invasive nature
of the procedure have featured in the circumcision debate.
In reality, circumcision seems to have few valid medical reasons. Common
reasons for circumcision are religious or cultural but in New Zealand
these considerations don't dominate our national psyche.
The main reason in many countries seems to have been because "everyone
else has done it" and in this regard we appear to be aligned with the
United Kingdom and Australia in the swing against circumcision over
recent decades.
Now there is another compelling reason to remain intact. New evidence
in the treatment of genital warts has shown that 3M's cream Aldara has
particularly high success rates in uncircumcised males.
Genital warts are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) and given
that it is the most common sexually transmitted infection in New Zealand
today, the cream's success with the uncircumcised is good news for many
that suffer from this unsightly and infectious condition.
The recent research, published in the International Journal of STD and
AIDS1 shows that total clearance of the warts was achieved in 62% of
uncircumcised males who applied 3M brand Aldara cream, three times per
week.
Not only did the study show the effectiveness of Aldara in uncircumcised
men, the cream is an important advance as it avoids the problems often
associated with other treatments, including the rate of warts returning
afterwards. Patients who clear their warts after treatment with Aldara
tend to remain clear of the condition.
The research was undertaken in France and Germany to evaluate Aldara
in uncircumcised men, as circumcision is not common in Europe. Previous
clinical studies were conducted primarily in the US and Canada, where
the large majority of men (more than 70%) are circumcised. While this
is down from the rates of near 90% in the 1950s, circumcision rates
in the US are still high, with 1.2million male babies thought to be
circumcised every year.
In the 1950s circumcision was also big in the United Kingdom and Australasia.
In Australia the rate of circumcision has decreased significantly over
the past 20 years to around 15% but in Britain the rate of infant circumcision
is now less than 0.5%.
The author of the Aldara study, Professor Herald Gollnick of the University
of Magdeburg, Germany says the results are particularly significant
for areas of the world where male circumcision is not widely performed,
such as Europe and Australasia.
The increasing incidence of genital warts is a global concern, with
the greatest prevalence in young adults.
"Effective treatment of the disease is of great importance not only
from a medical perspective but also from a psychological and economic
perspective," says Professor Gollnick.
Aldara is the first in a new class of drugs - immune response modifiers
(IRMs) - that demonstrate both anti-viral and anti-tumour activity.
IRMs act by stimulating the patient's own immune system to fight the
virus and eliminating the warts.
A surprising fact about foreskins: The average foreskin can stretch
to an area of 60 to 90 square centimetres and has more than 70 meters
of nerves and 10,000 to 20,000 nerve endings.
