HIV positive sperm bank launches in New Zealand in a world first

Sperm Positive donor Damien Rule-Neal hopes the sperm bank will help remove the stigma around the virus.
SUPPLIED
Sperm Positive donor Damien Rule-Neal hopes the sperm bank will help remove the stigma around the virus.

When Damien Rule-Neal was diagnosed with HIV in 1999, he thought he would never be able to father another child.

Now he will be able to, through the world's first HIV positive sperm bank.

The sperm bank – based online – is for donors who have a consistent undetectable viral load.

Anyone interested in using one of the sperm bank's donors will be connected with an Auckland-based fertility clinic to carry out the next steps.

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Picton-based Rule-Neal is one of the donors involved and was confirmed to have an undetectable viral load shortly after he started treatment 18 years ago.

A new sperm bank means anyone can have a child, whether they live with HIV or not (file photo).
123RF
A new sperm bank means anyone can have a child, whether they live with HIV or not (file photo).

This means the level of HIV in his blood is so low it cannot be detected through blood tests.

People with an undetectable viral load cannot pass on HIV to partners or children, as long as they are consistently taking anti-HIV medication and having regular blood tests, infectious diseases physician Dr Mark Thomas said.

The sperm bank was a "good idea", Thomas said, and there was no risk as long as the above conditions were fulfilled.

Rule-Neal said he struggled to come to terms with his diagnosis after receiving it at the age of 26.

He said he had experienced "a lot of stigma" over being HIV positive – he had been called "dirty" in the past and had to leave a job due to bullying.

He now shares his story through HIV support organisations Body Positive and Positive Women to remove the stigma of the virus, and hoped the sperm bank would do the same.

"It means that if I choose to have more children or if someone wants to have children, I now have the opportunity to be able to give them a gift that will give them a child.

"I think it helps remove stigma and discrimination around HIV. Just because you are positive doesn't mean that it's the end of anything."

Body Positive said the sperm bank, Sperm Positive, would make it possible for people living with HIV to have children.

Infectious diseases physician Dr Mark Thomas says he supports the sperm bank.
SUPPLIED
Infectious diseases physician Dr Mark Thomas says he supports the sperm bank.

Spokesman Mark Fisher said as well as providing an avenue for people with HIV to "create life and continue their genealogy", it could also reduce the stigma around the virus.

"That whole fear is still there based on the 1980s where people are afraid to put their children or their partner at risk of HIV," Fisher said.

"People are still back in the days of where they can't eat food prepared by someone with HIV."

Fisher said the sperm bank could have a significant impact on the way people think about the virus.

Anyone who wants to learn more about Sperm Positive can go to www.spermpositive.com.

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