Sperm washing - hopefully father to people with HIV

Trung and his wife, an HIV-infected person in Hanoi, are trying to accumulate money to go to Thailand to "earn" a healthy child by filtering sperm. In Vietnam, washing techniques have been applied for a long time but for other purposes.

Having children is the wish of every family
(Photo: typepad)

Mr. Le Nhan Tuan, Director of the Hanoi Center for HIV / AIDS Prevention and Control, said that many couples whose HIV-infected husband asked him to give advice to have children, one of their greatest aspirations. Thereby, they are known around the world, many HIV-infected men have obtained healthy children by filtering sperm before fertilization. Thailand is one of the countries with this service.

Dr. Nguyen Viet Tien, Director of the Central Obstetrics Hospital, said sperm purification is not a new technique. It has been done in Vietnam for a long time to "clean" sperm before pumping into the uterus or in vitro fertilization. This increases the likelihood of success of reproductive support cases.

Sperm is added to an existing chemical (also a sperm culture medium) and then put into a centrifuge. The centrifugal force will separate the healthy sperm on one side, the dead, weak, malformed and spermatozoa on the other side. HIV virus, if present in the sperm, will also be removed from the sperm.

"The centrifugation method can eliminate HIV virus as well as other pathogens and toxins in the sperm. However, we cannot be sure of achieving 100% efficiency," Dr. Tien said. That is the reason why the Central Obstetrics Hospital has not accepted to work for HIV-infected people.

According to Mr. Tien, even developed countries, which have helped some HIV-infected men give birth, do not dare to confirm the certainty of this method. On the other hand, if the HIV virus exists in the sperm cell itself, not just the sperm, then washing is useless. Therefore, the Central Obstetrics Hospital advocates when there is a request from an HIV-infected person, the doctors will advise against it, because if a child is born still infected, adults will regret it.

However, Mr. Tien said the hospital will not refuse when the couple (HIV-infected husband) has decided to definitely give birth, and if the doctors do not help, they will conceive in a natural way. The method of sperm washing will reduce the risk for their children. The condition for the wife to be confirmed is definitely not infected with HIV, the two people use condoms during all sexual encounters. And it is best that this couple has enough economic conditions to ensure the life of their future child.

Although the effectiveness is not 100%, the presence of this method still brings great hope for HIV-infected men. Many of them were infected before they had children. Trung is an example. This 32-year-old man was very depressed when he thought of the time when he left his helpless young wife alone, while she yearned to have his child as a memory of a deep love.

"As for me, like many other men, I do not want to disappear from this world without leaving my own" trace ", it is the child. - The center. This desire made him and his wife intend to gamble with fate by taking a conception in a natural way, because not every child has an HIV-infected parent. However, they managed to keep up and keep waiting, raising hope.

Trung and his wife are trying to "plow" and save for money to go to Thailand to fertilize artificial insemination. You are very happy to hear that Vietnam can also perform sperm washing.

"I believe that in the not too distant future, this technique in Vietnam will be as effective as other countries, and the desire to be a father of those who have such plight will no longer be a far-sighted prospect." - Trung said.

Thanh Nhan

* The name of the person with HIV in the lesson has been changed.