{"id":50910,"date":"2015-12-01T22:01:39","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T20:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ivi-fertility.com\/?p=50910"},"modified":"2022-04-12T17:35:56","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T15:35:56","slug":"sperm-washing-protecting-your-baby-from-hiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ivi-fertility.com\/blog\/sperm-washing-protecting-your-baby-from-hiv\/","title":{"rendered":"Sperm washing: protecting your baby from HIV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just over a decade ago, a very special baby was born using IVF at one of our IVI clinics. The baby\u2019s father was HIV-positive, the mother was not; the baby was born free of the virus. This was a first for IVI and was made possible by a particular process of assisted reproduction<\/strong> that would have sounded like science fiction a few years earlier. The father’s sperm underwent a washing treatment to ensure that the virus was not transmitted to the baby. This remarkable treatment meant that the couple could fulfil their dream of starting a family and do so safely.
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\nToday, on World AIDS Day<\/strong>, we remember that child and that couple and the milestone they represent for the many couples affected by HIV. Wanting a family and controlling HIV infection are equally important to the couples who find themselves in a similar situation. Assisted reproduction offers the possibility of achieving both these things and at the same time ensuring that the child is healthy — always the top priority in assisted reproduction. When the man is HIV-positive but the woman is not (so-called serodiscordant heterosexual couples), assisted reproduction techniques are a way of avoiding the risk of infection for both the mother and the child.
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\nSperm washing is the key assisted reproduction technique<\/strong> for removing HIV. The virus is not contained in the sperm itself, but in the plasma and other cells present in semen. When the man is a carrier, sperm washing can remove the infection and the woman can then begin a cycle of assisted reproduction.
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