Woman gets HIV by artificial insemination

Dec 01, 2002

In Tokyo Monday, a researcher announced that a woman who was incorrectly given an artificial insemination treatment using sperm from her HIV-positive husband has been infected with the virus.

In Tokyo Monday, a researcher announced that a woman who was incorrectly given an artificial insemination treatment using sperm from her HIV-positive husband has been infected with the virus.

The case is the first in Japan in which artificial insemination has caused HIV infection. The woman, whose name and age were not revealed, underwent the treatment at a hospital in western Japan several years ago, said Hideji Hanabusa, a doctor specialising in hematology at Ogikubo Hospital in Tokyo.

Hanabusa said the hospital skipped several procedures, including the "swim-up," in which active sperm that have been filtered in a centrifuge can be stripped from leucocytes and lymph cells subject to the virus. "We also found another case in which artificial insemination was carried out improperly, but the patient was not found to be infected," Hanabusa said. "

The first successful birth using sperm from an HIV-infected father in Japan took place in 2001 using a method pioneered in Italy and Spain. The mother and child have been confirmed infection-free.

Several other successful cases have been reported since. Last October, Hanabusa treated a woman who delivered an infection-free baby boy in what was claimed to be the world's first case of in-vitro fertilisation using sperm stripped of HIV.

CDC HIV/STD/TB Prevention News Update2002

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