'Sperm washing' offers fatherhood to HIV-positive men

By JEREMY LAURANCE

A London hospital has used a "sperm washing" technique to let HIV-positive men father children without infecting their offspring.

Of the 53 couples who used the procedure, one-third conceived. None of the children was infected with HIV.

It is too risky for HIV-positive men to have sex with a partner without a condom because of the risk of passing on the infection.

But HIV, the virus that causes Aids, is carried in the semen, not the sperm. Sperm-washing spins the semen sample, separating out the sperm so that it can be artificially inseminated into the woman at her most fertile time of the month, and the risk of viral transmission is reduced.

Gynaecologist Dr Carol Gilling-Smith led the research team at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. "Nothing is 100 per cent safe in life," she said. "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."

Sperm washing is not the only technique suggested for HIV-positive men. Scientists are investigating the possibility that sperm could be heated to 58C - enough to destroy HIV without ruining its ability to fertilise the egg.

- INDEPENDENT