VOA标准英语2011--Reducing HIV Risk with Painless Male Circumcision

Reducing HIV Risk with Painless Male Circumcision

Studies have shown that male circumcision greatly reduces the risk of HIV transmission. The World Health Organization is weighing approval of a new device that could make the procedure simple and painless.

The WHO and UNAIDS call male circumcision an important and effective strategy to help slow HIV infections. In a recent report, they said the potential exists to avoid 22 percent of HIV infections by 2025 in 14 countries in eastern and southern Africa.

However, to do that, 80 percent of the men between ages 15 and 49 would have to be circumcised. But if men believe the procedure involves needles, scalpels and pain, there could be a less than enthusiastic response to having it done.

The World Health Organization is now reviewing trial results of a new device call PrePex, which was used to circumcise more than 1,000 men in Rwanda.

“Essentially, it’s a device designed to compress the foreskin using two rings. And that ultimately by squeezing the skin in a very non-painful way the blood supply to the skin begins to go away and the skin dies, which is what we want. And then it’s able to, sort of, fall off,” said Dr. Steven Kaplan, of New York’s Weil Cornell Medical Center, who is a urologist and co-investigator of the PrePex study.

Did he say non painful?

“When blood supply to an area of skin is removed there’s no pain because the nerve fibers¹ also don’t get blood supply. So that’s why patients tolerate it because when you first think about it you say isn’t that going to hurt? And the answer is no, because the blood supply goes away and therefore the pain goes away as well,” he said.

From start to finish, it can take about a week, maybe less. No surgery is involved, no sharp objects.

The beauty of this is that this can be done in almost any environment. Does not require any anesthetic². Does not require any sterile³ environment. And that’s what we believe will make this very, very useful and adaptable⁴ to large communities throughout the world and, here, particularly Africa,” said Kaplan.

Health professionals, not just doctors, can be trained to use PrePex.

Kaplan said it’s long been known that removing the foreskin of the penis brings a number of health benefits.

“Various types of germs, the virus, bacteria, other types of sexually transmitted diseases, are sort of, if you will, hidden, kept under the foreskin because a lot of times it’s not retracted⁵. It’s not well cleaned. It just becomes really almost an empty alleyway where all these bad bugs⁶ can hide,” he said.

Good results

Rwandan Health Minister Dr. Agnes Binagwaho praised the PrePex device following the trial in her country.

“So, it was very successful. First of all, it proved that it was safe. It proved that it was efficient and it proved that it was superior to the surgical⁷ male circumcision,” she said.

During the trial, men in the PrePex study were kept in the hospital strictly⁸ for observation. The minister says men who had the new procedure were laughing and playing. Men who had the surgical procedure were not.

Rwanda’s HIV prevalence rate is 3 percent. But the results of a new survey are expected in about a month. The health minister said the goal is to circumcise about two million men.

“We want to protect our men against the risk of HIV transmission by circumcising them. And, you know, when you protect men you also protect women. You also protect future children of those women,” she said.

Binagwaho said it isn’t just an issue for Rwanda, but for the whole world.

“I think the line of men who want to be circumcised is bigger than the capacity to circumcise. Because for the time being, the official way to circumcise is the surgical circumcision,” she said.

PrePex is being developed by CircMedTech. The company says the device has been cleared for marketing⁹ in the European Union and hopes the World Health Organization will give its approval in early 2012.

1 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

2 anesthetic   

n.麻醉剂，麻药；adj.麻醉的，失去知觉的

参考例句：

• He was given a general anesthetic.他被全身麻醉。
• He was still under the influence of the anesthetic.他仍处在麻醉状态。

3 sterile   

adj.不毛的，不孕的，无菌的，枯燥的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• This top fits over the bottle and keeps the teat sterile.这个盖子严实地盖在奶瓶上，保持奶嘴无菌。
• The farmers turned the sterile land into high fields.农民们把不毛之地变成了高产田。

4 adaptable   

adj.能适应的，适应性强的，可改编的

参考例句：

• He is an adaptable man and will soon learn the new work.他是个适应性很强的人，很快就将学会这种工作。
• The soil is adaptable to the growth of peanuts.这土壤适宜于花生的生长。

5 retracted   

v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回

参考例句：

• He made a false confession which he later retracted. 他作了假供词，后来又翻供。
• A caddy retracted his statement. 一个球童收回了他的话。 来自辞典例句

6 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。

8 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

9 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。