**6. Circumcision/urinary tract infections**

Winberg's study in Scandinavia 1975, where circumcision is uncommon showed that in male infants with pyelonephritis, the prepuce is colonized with the offending organism. This only occurs during the first months of life where boys have a urinary tract infection more frequently than girls.

Ginsburg and McCracken in 1982, like Winberg found that early in life, the number of boys with acute pyelonephritis was greater than girls and 95% of all boys with urinary tract infection were uncircumcised. The association between circumcision and infection has since been confirmed by Wiswell and Roscelle in two epidemiologic studies, the latest involving over 400,000 infants. That study showed that the incidence of urinary tract infection was only 0.1% when circumcision was performed. Finally, taking into consideration the fact that most males in these Scandinavian studies are uncircumcised, it may consider the prepuce as a risk factor. Wiswell and Roscelle in 1986 and Horzog 1989, stated that the infection rate in uncircumcised infants was ten times greater than in circumcised males. So, prophylactic neonatal circumcision is mandatory to reduce the incidence of UTI.
