Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - August 16, 2005
Apinya Wipatayotin
Dr Pramuan said unexpected mistakes could occur through human or lab errors, resulting in the mother being infected with the deadly virus which causes Aids.
In theory, a woman would still risk being infected with the virus during the process of intra-uterine insemination, he told a seminar entitled: "Is Thai society ready for the HIV family to have a baby?" held by the Thai Red Cross Society.
The seminar was held to discuss the issue as the Thai Red Cross and Chulalongkorn University's medicine faculty will set up a clinic to "clean sperm" in a few months for the first time in Thailand.
The sperm from HIV-infected husbands will be cleaned and via intra-uterine insemination will be injected into the woman when the woman is ovulating.
The clinic's procedure will be available for a stable and well-off family in which the husband living with HIV has a strong desire to have his own baby with his HIV-negative wife.
Usually, the HIV virus is not found in sperm, but in white blood cells and seminal fluid. The sperm will be separated from the fluid and made free of HIV before being injected into the woman's uterus.
The technique has been widely used for 10 years in many countries such as Italy, Britain, Spain, the United States and Australia.
"The sperm cleaning procedure is not as easy as expected. The technique is very complicated. Several tests must be taken to make sure that no sperm is found attached with HIV," he said.
But Prapan Panupak, director of the Aids Research Center of the Thai Red Cross, said that the idea of sperm cleaning could create great benefits to a family living with HIV. They could enjoy the basic right of breeding, he said.
He said that advanced technology could now reduce the HIV infection rate between mother to baby from 25% to less than 1% so the chance of HIV infection during intra-uterine insemination was very slim at only "0.0001%".
But Dr Pramuan said a couple where the husband is infected with HIV should think about the future of their child instead of focusing only on their desire to have a baby. They will have to consider how the baby will be brought up if their parents die of Aids, he said..
Kamol Upakaew, chairman of the People Living With HIV Network, believed that medical developments could prolong HIV/Aids people's life so they can enjoy life just as normal people can.
"People living with HIV can die at an old age. So they can enjoy everything ordinary people have, including a baby," said Mr Kamol, who has an 11-month-old girl with his HIV-positive wife.
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