Medically assisted reproduction and viral infections

ABSTRACT

During the past ten years Assisted Reproduction has been facing a new demand from patients requiring ART [Assisted Reproductive Techniques] couples at risk of partner to partner, and mother to child transmission of viral infections, mainly Human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], hepatitis B virus [HBV] and hepatitis C virus [HCV]. The desire to have children is not easy to realize for serodiscordant couples, if we consider that, in order to avoid HIV virus transmission, it is necessary to use the condom in vaginal contacts. On the other hand infertile discordant HCV couples need to be included in protocols of controlled assisted reproduction procedures to avoid any risk of HCV transmission to the partner. In this paper, we review current literature about assisted reproductive techniques [ART] recommendations and results in the context of Human immunodeficiency virus [HIV], hepatitis B virus [HBV] and hepatitis C virus [HCV]