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Some earlier studies have already linked circumcision with reduced risk of developing a number of health problems like urinary tract infection (UTI), HIV, and two other sexually transmitted infections--herpes and cancer-causing Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) in men.

Another study has suggested that male circumcision may perk up women’s sex life.

Circumcision helps cut HPV risk for women
While circumcision is already known to cut men’s risk of HPV sharply, the latest results showed that circumcision in HIV-negative men cuts their female partners’ odds of contracting human papillomavirus (HPV), which causes warts and cervical cancer, Reuters report.

"Our findings indicate that male circumcision should now be accepted as an efficacious intervention for reducing the prevalence and incidence of HPV infections in female partners. However, protection is only partial; the promotion of safe sex practices is also important," Dr. Maria Wawer and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore reported in the Lancet medical journal on Thursday.

Study details
For their study, Wawer’s team analyzed data from two clinical trials in Rakai, Uganda, that followed HIV-negative men and their HIV-negative female partners between 2003 and 2006.

The main purposes of the two studies were to establish the effect of circumcision on the risk of men catching HIV in one case and the risk of transmitting the virus to their female partners in the other.

To determine a link between circumcision and reduced risk of HPV transmission, Wawer and co-authors enrolled 648 partners of men in the circumcision group, and 597 partners of men in the control group between 2003 and 2006.

At 24-month follow-up, data were available for more than 1000 women (544 in the intervention group and 488 in the control group). All the women were asked to provide vaginal swabs for HPV testing at baseline, 12 months, and 24 months.

Study findings
Results showed a significant reduction of the prevalence of high-risk HPV infection in female partners of circumcised men compared with the control group.

More precisely, 151 or 28 percent women in the intervention group and 189 or 39 percent in the control group had high-risk HPV infection.

During the trial, incidence of new high-risk HPV infection in women was lower in the intervention group than in the control group--20.7 infections versus 26.9 infections per 100 person-years, translating to a 23 percent lower infection rate.

"Along with previous trial results in men, these findings indicate that male circumcision should now be accepted as an efficacious intervention for reducing heterosexually acquired high-risk and low-risk HPV infections in men who do not have HIV and in their female partners.

“However, our results indicate that protection is only partial; the promotion of safe sex practices is also important," concluded the study authors.

About circumcision
Circumcision is the term used for surgical removal of the foreskin of the penis or prepuce. The word ‘circumcision’ comes from the Latin word circum meaning "around" and caedere meaning "to cut" and medically means removal of the foreskin from the penis.

There is a common belief that circumcised men are less likely to suffer from penile cancer, inflammation of the penis, or have many sexually transmitted diseases.

"Male circumcision has now been shown to decrease HIV, herpes simplex virus-2, and HPV infections and genital ulcer disease in men, and also HPV infection, trichomoniasis, and bacterial vaginosis and genital ulcer disease in their female partners," Wawer's team wrote, according to Reuters.

"Thus, male circumcision reduces the risk of several sexually transmitted infections in both sexes, and these benefits should guide public health policies for neonatal, adolescent, and adult male circumcision programs."

Although there are existing scientific evidences that show the medical benefits of circumcision, some experts think that the benefits are not strong enough to recommended circumcision as a routine practice.