A woman artificially inseminated with semen from her HIV-positive husband has given birth to a healthy baby, officials at Tottori University Hospital said Tuesday.
Neither the mother nor the baby, who was born during the summer, have contracted the infection, they said.
It was the first successful birth in Japan using semen from an HIV-infected man, medical experts said.
The father, who is in his 20s, was infected with the virus through unheated blood products used to treat his hemophilia, according to the hospital.
In November 1999, the hospital submitted a request to the Tottori University ethics committee, asking to begin infertility treatment using the man's semen.
In May 2000, the committee approved the procedure after receiving written confirmation from the man's wife that she wished to become pregnant through such a method.
The infected semen was deposited in a test tube and set inside a centrifuge to separate the semen from the virus, lymph nodes and impurities. This procedure reduces the risk of infection to the mother and child to one in 10,000, hospital officials said.
In August, the Niigata University medical department announced it had successfully inseminated two women with semen from their HIV-positive husbands. One is expected to give birth this fall, while the other is expected to follow sometime in spring.
Some medical experts, however, point out the ethical problems related to the method, noting that the risk of infection, while reduced, still exists.
Toshihiro Aono, professor emeritus at the Tokushima University medical department, said that while the method paves the way for HIV-infected people to have babies, medical authorities should ensure their patients are fully aware of the risks of possible infection before proceeding.