New Orleans: The maligned foreskin has won a clean bill of health in infants' urinary tract infections.
In a prospective study at St. Louis University of 52 circumcised and 56 uncircumcised infants under six months with a first urinary tract infection, 72 had clinical pyelonephritis. Yet circumcision status (35 were circumcised) wasn't significant, while anatomical obstructions were.
Abnormal anatomy was responsible for infections in 40 circumcised infants and 42 uncircumcised ones, says Dr. George Steinhardt. Of the 26 boys with normal urinary anatomy, 12 were circumcised and 14 were not. Structural anomalies, evenly divided between groups, included 76 with reflux and 23 with obstructions, the team told the American Academy of Pediatrics meeting here. The rest had triad, valves, or bladder diverticula.
[See Genitourinary tract abnormalities and UTI]
[Note: The American Academy of Pediatrics held its annual meeting in New Orleans in early November 1997. For more information about circumcision and UTI, see the CIRP subdirectory on the subject.]
http://www.cirp.org/news/1997.12.22_PhysiciansWeekly/