Sperm Impaired by HIV-infection... *tear, tear*

The abstract of this article explains how researchers conducted a perspective study on HIV-infected patients. The reason for this experiment was because couples who were serodiscordant (couples with on partner HIV positive and the other HIV negative), had a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected man, who was most likely on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The semen alterations are caused by the HIV-1 infection and the antiretroviral drugs. These couples wanted to achieve safe conception by requesting assisted reproductive technology (ART). Therefore, the goal of this study is to investigate the semen parameters in HIV-1-infected patients with and without HAART and to compare their sperm characteristics with those of healthy men.

The experiment:

• The study consisted of 226 men, who attended the university fertility center of Mannheim between May 1996 and July 2003.
• The patients were divided into three groups:
• HIV-infected men taking antiretroviral therapy.
• HIV-infected patients who did not take antiretroviral therapy until now.
• Control group with 93 men consulting our fertility center together with their wives because of tubal sterility.
• Semen samples were examined with regard to ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, motility, and morphology.

The results of this conducted research was that it showed major differences between the ejaculate of HIV-infected and non-infected men. The HIV-infected men as a whole had a lower ejaculate volume compared to the control group. The group with HIV-infection with HAART also had a less slow progressive and more abnormally shaped spermatozoa (motile sperm cell) compared with the control group. Overall, the differences between the groups with and without HAART were not that significant. The spermiogram, which is a microscopic examination of a sample of sperm, was negatively altered in HIV-infected men, especially in men with HARRT, when compared to the control group. This means that the ejaculate volume significantly changed through the course of they study.

I just realized I didn't add any quirky remarks in this post, well until now...oops!

Article:

HIV-infection and modern antiretroviral therapy impair sperm quality.