Insemination with isolated and virologically tested spermatozoa is a safe way for human immunodeficiency type 1 virus-serodiscordant couples with an infected male partner to have a child

Objective: To enable serodiscordant couples to reproduce while minimizing the risk of infecting the female partner and to demonstrate the feasibility of including these couples in an insemination program. Design: Prospective follow-up study. Setting: Ambulatory IUIS. Patient(s): Fifty-six HIV-1-serodiscordant couples with a male infected partner. Intervention(s): Sperm cell separation by the gradient density method followed by the swim-up method, virological detection, and IUI after ovarian stimulation. Main Outcome Measure(s): Pregnancy rate, HIV-1 test, and p24 antigenemia in women. Result(s): Two hundred thirteen IUIs were pet-formed, and 37 pregnancies occurred, resulting in 33 births and 2 ongoing pregnancies. Fifty percent of couples have a child. No women were infected. Conclusion(s): Our study demonstrates the efficiency of an IUI program with prepared and virologically tested spermatozoa in serodiscordant couples with an HIV-1-infected male partner, allowing the couples to have children without transmission of the virus to the female partner. (C) 2004 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.