PREGNANCY FOLLOWING INTRACYTOPLASMIC SPERM INJECTION FROM AN HIV-1-SEROPOSITIVE MAN

The first pregnancy achieved in a seronegative woman following in-vitr o fecundation through intracytoplasmic sperm (ICSI) injection from a m an with autoimmune deficiency syndrome (AIDS; HIV-1 carrier) is report ed. The semen was prepared by PureSperm(R) and swim-up techniques. Som e of the motile spermatozoa obtained were used to detect the presence of HIV-1 using the polymerase chain reaction technique. HIV-1 in DNA o r RNA form was not detected using this technique. The remaining sperma tozoa were frozen. Ovarian stimulation in the woman was performed with long-protocol analogues and gonadotrophins, Thirteen mature oocytes w ere recovered, into which the thawed spermatozoa were microinjected, N ine embryos were obtained. Four were frozen, four transferred and one discarded. The woman became pregnant. Analyses for HIV-1 in the woman, performed in the first and third months of pregnancy, gave negative r esults. This case provides further experience with washed semen of suf ficient quality for performing artificial insemination in HIV-1-serodi scordant couples (101 inseminations, 31 pregnancies, 28 deliveries, 37 babies, all healthy). In women,vith obstructed Fallopian tubes, or wh en the semen is not of sufficient quality for artificial insemination techniques to be performed, ICSI can be carried out using frozen, HIV- l-free semen.