By Paul Simao

DURBAN, June 7 (Reuters) - South Africa and other African nations hard hit by AIDS should consider a mass campaign to circumcise males to help stem the spread of the epidemic, researchers at a major AIDS conference in South Africa said.

The call to increase circumcisions in boys as well as some adults comes in the wake of growing evidence that the practice could offer men as well and their sexual partners more protection from HIV.

In a presentation on Thursday that cited studies from Uganda, Kenya and South Africa, Neil Martinson of South Africa's Perinatal HIV/AIDS research unit said circumcision could reduce the risk of HIV infection by up to 60 percent although it did not offer total protection from the virus.

"I think this is very conclusive evidence," Martinson told about 100 delegates at the Third South African AIDS Conference in Durban.

At the moment, circumcision is less common in southern and eastern Africa than in northern African and most parts of western Africa.

Describing the attitude of South Africa's government toward circumcision as "deafening silence", Martinson urged it and other African governments to try to build support for expanding the number of circumcisions done in hospitals and clinics.

The World Health Organisation has already recommended male circumcision as one of the many ways developing nations, particularly in Africa, could use to tackle AIDS. Mozambique, Malawi and several other countries are heeding the call, but South Africa so far has remained silent.

Some health officials in South Africa, where 12 percent of 47 million people are infected with HIV, have warned that males who are circumcised might engage in more risky sexual behaviour. They also have argued that it is not an accepted practice in much of the country.

Uncircumcised males appear to be at a higher risk of HIV infection because the virus is effective at penetrating tiny cuts and fissures that develop in the foreskin. Removing it leaves behind a hardened layer of skin that is believed to be more resistant to HIV.

Most circumcisions carried out in southern Africa usually occur as part of tribal rituals, often when men are in their early 20s, an age when many have already been exposed to HIV through their sexual behaviour.

The relatively primitive nature of many of these "traditional" circumcisions also can lead to high rates of infection and other health problems.

"The complication rates are small when carried out in medical settings," Bertran Auvert, a French professor of public health who has conducted research on the relationship between HIV and circumcision rates in Africa, told a separate presentation at the conference.

He said there was overwhelming evidence to support the WHO recommendation.

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