Short answers, pulled from the story.
Roughly 37 to 39 percent of men globally are circumcised, making it one of the most common surgical procedures in the world. Prevalence is highest in Muslim-majority countries, Israel, the United States, South Korea, the Philippines, and most of Africa.
The oldest known documentation of circumcision comes from ancient Egypt. Engraved rock art at Oued Djerat in Algeria depicting the practice has been dated to earlier than 6000 BP, and some walls from the same Bubaline Period may date to 10,000 BP. The earliest historical record of the procedure as a performed act is a carved image on the tomb of Ankh-Mahor at Saqqara, dated to roughly 2400-2300 BCE.
Three randomized controlled trials conducted in South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda found that circumcised men contracted HIV at a substantially lower rate than uncircumcised men. All three trials were stopped early by their monitoring boards because the evidence of benefit was considered too strong to withhold the procedure from control groups. The WHO subsequently described these as "gold standard" studies and found that circumcision reduces heterosexual female-to-male HIV transmission by up to 60 percent in high-risk populations.
Yes. The mitzvah of circumcision on the eighth day of life is considered among the most important commandments in Judaism. Its basis is found in Genesis chapter 17, where a covenant of circumcision is made with Abraham. Failure to observe the rite is described in Jewish teaching as leading to Kareth, the extinction of the soul and denial of a share in the world to come.
The most common acute complications are excessive bleeding, infection, and removal of too much or too little foreskin; these occur in approximately 0.13 percent of procedures. Minor complications occur in roughly 3.8 percent of procedures. The most common long-term complication is meatal stenosis, seen almost exclusively in circumcised children, which is treatable by meatotomy. Complication rates increase significantly with patient age.
In 1855, British physician Jonathan Hutchinson published findings suggesting Jewish men had lower rates of syphilis among his venereal disease patients, and concluded circumcision was protective. In 1870, Lewis Sayre, a founder of the American Medical Association, promoted circumcision in the United States as a treatment for paralysis in young boys, drawing on the then-prominent theory of reflex neurosis. By the late 19th century, circumcision was universally recommended in the United Kingdom and the United States.