2007 Center for Global Health Headlines

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Hopkins' Circumcision Study Named #1 Medical Breakthrough of 2007

In Time Magazine's issue of 2007 Top 10 lists, Johns Hopkins University's discovery that circumcision can prevent HIV is hailed as the number one medical breakthrough of 2007.

The acknowledgement refers to the February 2007 results of a study by Bloomberg School of Public Health faculty members Ronald Gray, MBBS, MSc, and Maria Wawer, MD, MHSc, School of Medicine faculty members Thomas C. Quinn, MD, MSc, Oliver Laeyendecker, MS, MBA, and Steve Reynolds, MDCM, MPH, and Makerere University (Uganda) faculty members David Serwadda and Nelson Sewankambo.

Time paraphases the study results that were published in the Lancet: "In the two randomized trials, which included 7,780 HIV-negaitve men in Rakai, Uganda, and Kisumu, Kenya, researchers found that medically-circumcised men were at least 51 percent 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.'", Time elaborated.

The results of the trials were so compelling that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) halted the study early so the treatment could be offered to those enrolled in the control groups of the trials.

A month later, WHO announced there was compelling evidence to recommend male circumcision be made a part of a comprehensive HIV prevention package for HIV-negaitve men. Although infant circumcision is the ultimate goal, the current focus of HIV/AIDS health workers is to slow the spread of the disease in the short term by reaching adults.

"Johns Hopkins should be proud that their faculty were successful in pioneering this research, which will save millions of HIV infections over the years in Africa," commented Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health's Director, Thomas C. Quinn, MD, MSC. "This was truly a collaborative project involving the faculty at Hopkins' Schools of Public Health and Medicine, as well as our colleagues at Makerere University in Uganda.

"Bridging lab-based science, clinical lab expertise, epidemiology, and public health practice can truly be rewarding and result in major accomplishments," Quinn continued. "This outstanding collaboration of faculty here and abroad is what the Center for Global Health tries to facilitate, and we are proud to be a part of this major breakthrough."