Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
#1. Circumcision Can Prevent HIV
In December 2006, the National Institutes of Health halted two clinical
trials of male circumcision after an early review of the data showed that
the procedure dramatically reduced transmission of HIV. Early this year, the
details of those studies were published in the Lancet: In the two
randomized trials, which included 7,780 HIV-negative men in Rakai, Uganda,
and Kisumu, Kenya, researchers found that medically circumcised men were at
least 51% less likely than uncircumcised men to acquire HIV during sex with
women. The editors of the Lancet called the discovery "a new era for
HIV prevention." Scientists don't know yet whether male circumcision can
also provide protection for female partners — a new study on the
hypothesis is forthcoming next year.
