Men with HIV find safe way to be fathers

A technique of "sperm washing" that allows HIV positive men to father children without infecting them with the disease has been introduced by a London hospital.

Doctors described yesterday how the procedure had been used with 53 couples, one third of whom went on to conceive a child. None of the children was infected with HIV.

About 1,000 heterosexual patients are diagnosed with HIV each year but it is necessary to use a condom to avoid passing on the infection.

But HIV, the virus that causes Aids, is carried in the semen, not the sperm. The task, therefore, was to separate the sperm from the seminal fluid and the technique of sperm-washing that has now been developed involves spinning the semen sample. The various components are thus separated and the sperm is removed so that it can then be artificially inseminated into the female partner at her most fertile time of the month, and the risk of viral transmission is reduced.

Dr Carol Gilling-Smith – a consultant gynaecologist and director of the Chelsea and Westminster Assisted Conception Unit and the leader of the research team at Chelsea and Westminster hospital – said yesterday: "Nothing is 100 per cent safe in life. What we try to do is reduce that risk. Until this was available, couples had no option but to risk unprotected sex, or to resort to donor sperm – or to live a life without children."

She said the procedure should be available on the NHS because it was aimed at lowering the risk of either the mother or unborn child getting HIV, and consequently lowering the burden on the NHS. It is currently only available privately and one cycle of sperm washing costs £600.

Dr Gilling-Smith said: "The Government needs to support this, not only because every child born HIV-negative means huge cost savings in medication. Forty per cent of patients can't go ahead with this treatment because of funding."

Dr Gilling Smith, who presented her findings to a conference on HIV in Manchester yesterday, said the costs had to be counterbalanced with the risk of HIV being transmitted through unprotected intercourse. A recent study in France showed that 4 per cent of women with HIV positive partners would be infected with the virus in that way.

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has managed to secure funding for 10 per cent of its patients based on the fact that the procedure reduces the risk of HIV transmission.

One woman who has managed to have a baby with her HIV-positive partner described how it had transformed her life.

She said: "I had expected to be a widow in my late 20s. Now I have a happy, long-lasting marriage, and the extra joy of a child. It helps my husband fight to live longer and stay healthier as well."

Sperm washing is not the only technique that has been suggested as a possibility for HIV-positive men. Some scientists are investigating the possibility that sperm could be heated to 58 degrees – enough to destroy HIV – without ruining its ability to fertilise the egg properly.

Dr Gilling-Smith, added: "This technique has transformed lives completely.

"A common view is that the HIV virus just progresses to Aids and then death but there is very effective medication now. People with the virus have a good life expectancy, but the one thing they can't do safely is have children. This treatment has opened doors for a lot of people."