Sperm washing

Sperm washing is the most suitable technique to avoid infection by AIDS virus (HIV) or Hepatitis C (HCV), from the father to the mother and, therefore, to the baby.

HIV-positive men
When a HIV-positive man wants to have children, in Cefer Reproductive Institute we offer him the following choices:

1. To apply sperm washing technique in order to eliminate the virus and then administer an artificial insemination or IVF-ICSI treatment to the woman.
2. To use sperm from an anonymous HIV-negative donor from our sperm bank.

Thanks to sperm washing, the sperm can be broken down into cells, spermatozoa and seminal plasma, which carries the HIV virus. Then we can freeze it and employ the PCR technique (polymerase change reaction) to verify the washing efficacy. Once it is checked, the washed sperm is ready to be used in an assisted reproductive treatment.

In a 98% of the cases, the virus is eliminated after the washing. Thus, the virus-free spermatozoa can be defrosted for the IVF-ICSI technique.

HIV-positive woman and couples
When the woman is HIV-positive, or even both members of the couple, Cefer also applies the most advanced techniques to ensure there is no risk for the pregnancy.