BBC News - Sunday, 2 December, 2001
All 75 clinics in Britain which provide assisted conception were asked about their policies for treating HIV patients.
Out of 57 which responded, nearly three-quarters had a policy in place but most (61%) had not seen an HIV-infected patient within the past year.
But those clinics which had seen an HIV-infected patient during the past 12-months were more likely to be discriminatory, according to the survey.
'Lottery'
The study revealed that HIV-infected men had more of a chance of being offered or receiving treatment, but where a woman or both partners were infected, treatment was not so forthcoming.
Author of the report, Ade Apoola, a specialist registrar at Whittall Street clinic in Birmingham, said: "Not all patients infected with HIV will be suitable for infertility treatment.
"But whether couples are offered assisted conception in Britain is a lottery because there are no established guidelines.
"Centres offering assisted conception should have a less restrictive attitude towards patients infected with HIV."
Mark Graver, the Terrence Higgins Trust, an Aids charity, said: "We do not know on what grounds these clinics are refusing to give treatment, but it certainly is not on medical grounds."
Antenatal screening
Mr Graver explained that there was a risk that a woman could transmit the HIV virus to her unborn child, but prior knowledge of her condition and appropriate treatment during pregnancy could reduce that risk to less than 1%.
He said 75 women were diagnosed with HIV last year during antenatal screening - medical intervention meant all went on to give birth to an HIV-negative baby.
Mr Graver added that discrimination against HIV-infected men was probably not as widespread because clinics were able to use a technique called "sperm-washing", which aims to clear sperm of the virus.
This week the Terrence Higgins Trust launched a report to mark World Aids Day on Saturday which said discrimination against HIV-infected people was still rife.
The charity has called on the government to provide further training to medical personnel about HIV and the risks it poses to staff, patients and the general public.
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