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. 2010 May 13;5(5):e10569.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010569.

Semen may harbor HIV despite effective HAART: another piece in the puzzle

Philippe Halfon  1 , Claude Giorgetti, Hacène Khiri, Guillaume Pénaranda, Philippe Terriou, Géraldine Porcu-Buisson, Véronique Chabert-Orsini
Affiliations

Semen may harbor HIV despite effective HAART: another piece in the puzzle

Philippe Halfon et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The risk of male-to-female intravaginal HIV-1 transmission is estimated at about 1 event per 200-2000 coital acts. The aim of this study was to assess the residual risk of HIV presence in semen in patients under HAART therapy.

Methods and findings: The study took place in France from October 2001 to March 2009. 394 paired blood and semen samples were provided from 332 HIV-1 infected men. The Roche Cobas AMPLICOR Monitor HIV assay was used to quantify HIV-1 RNA in blood and in seminal plasma. Three percent of 394 HIV-1 infected men enrolled in an assisted reproductive technology program harbored detectable HIV-1 RNA in semen, although they had no other sexually transmitted disease and their blood viral load was undetectable for at least 6 months under antiretroviral treatment.

Conclusion: These data suggest that undetectable plasma HIV RNA means a lower risk of viral transmission through seminal fluid on a population level, but not necessarily at the level of the individual.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Study flowchart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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