Circumcision/UTI Update

Circumcision Does Not Lower The Incidence of Infant Urinary Tract Infection

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Recent research by Dr. Martin S. Altschul in the Northwest Permanente Hospitals exposes the hoax of the connection between circumcision and lower rates of UTI. Many doctors questioned the prospective study of UTI in infants by Army Dr. Thomas Wiswell. When the controversy first erupted over Wiswell's results, his rates mysteriously went from 4% vs. 2% (INTACT vs. circumcised) to 1% vs. .05%. Childhood UTI is a difficult and confusing diagnosis and Wiswell's results were confusing, inconsistent and did not agree with the state of medical common knowledge.

The state of medical common knowledge regarding infant male UTI is:

In all age groups except early infancy, females have a much higher rate of UTI than males. Male infants are more likely to be born with abnormalities of the urinary tract. Although such abnormalities are rare, they are the predominant cause of infant UTI. Infant UTI is therefore a serious condition that often requiressurgical correction of an underlying cause.

Wiswell's results did not fit medical common knowledge and, more importantly, broke the crucial connection between UTI and urinary birth defects. Does he suggest that circumcision could prevent a disorder the child had at birth? Such a conclusion would defy all human logic.

Dr. Altschul's review was similar to Dr. Wiswell's review in order to find out why Wiswell's results were inconsistent. In Dr. Altschul's words, I found not a single confirmed case of UTI in a normal male infant. All of the confirmed cases occurred in infantswho had clear-cut urinary birth defects.

This result is consistent with medical common knowledge and consistent with results in Europe where almost all males are INTACT. If Wiswell were correct, there would have been 80 INTACT infant males with UTI in this study with no urinary birth defects. There were none! And Wiswell never did a follow-up in hisstudy!

Dr. Altschul is asked a common question, What rate of preventable UTI would justify male circumcision? He answer, What rate of preventable UTI would justify routine female circumcision? LEAVE THE PENIS AS NATURE INTENDED IT TO BE!

Dr. Altschul received his doctorate in medicine from the Johns Hopkins University Medical School and an M.S. in statistics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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