Question

Can I have a baby if my partner is HIV negative?

2 February 2009. Related: All topics, Children, HIV transmission, Pregnancy.

Hi! I read a response about having a baby when the man is HIV positive and the woman is HIV negative on January 21, 2009.

Is this possible in a developing country? I mean to give birth to a baby free from the virus if the man is +ve but not his wife?

How frequent can they have intercourse for him not to progress rapidly to AIDS or is there other means to do this?

Thanks a lot.

Answer

Answer: Simon Collins

Yes, there are lots of options but the details are quite complicated.

Some Western countries have a procedure called sperm washing which separates sperm (which doesn’t contain HIV) from the liquid in semen (which does contain HIV). These procedures are technical and expensive and are available only in some countries. You will have to inquire in your hospital about whether this is available locally.

A more realistic option that is getting more publicity now is to use HIV treatment to reduce the man’s viral load to undetectable levels, making him much less infectious, and then to ONLY have unprotected sex during the 1-2 days when the woman is most likely to conceive.

The man needs to have had an undetectable viral load for at least six months (to have reduced the HIV in semen), needs to be adherent to the treatment and neither of them has any other sexually transmitted disease.

For more detail see the i-Base guide to HIV and Pregnancy, especially this section on planning your pregnancy, this section on when the man is HIV-positive, and this section on the Swiss Statement.

Finally, a technical medical report with further links is at this HTB link.