Infectious Disease Program

SPAR recieves the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology Prize Paper Award presented at the The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) 2007 Conference.

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Dr. Kiessling gave the talk:"Assisted Reproduction with Sperm from HIV-infected Men"

And she presented a training seminar entitled: "Infectious Diseases And The ART Laboratory: Potential Problems And Solution"

SPAR Info Pack

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SPAROverview & Steps
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SPARUnderstanding the Science
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SPARProcedures & Clinics
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SPARSPAR Kits & Costs
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Request an information packet
To receive a hard copy of our information packet, please send an email with your name and address to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Included in the packet will be an Initial Consult Request and Patient History.

SPAR Quick Start Guide
The Goal of SPAR is to help couples achieve a pregnancy without transmitting the father’s infection to the mother or the child.
The Premise is that using sperm from semen specimens with no detectable virus decreases, perhaps eliminates, the risk of transmitting infection.

Although each step can have several parts and complications may arise depending on the needs of the couple; SPAR has essentially four stages:

  1. Evaluation of male and female partners
    The process begins with an evaluation of the HIV infected male with respect to duration of disease, current health status, confounding infections, such as Hepatitis virus or prostatitis, and current antiviral therapy.

    During a personal conference with Dr. Kiessling, she will explain the entire process, the potential pitfalls, and help locate collaborating infertility clinics. Be sure to thoroughly read the SPAR Info Pack (links on the left) before scheduling a consultation, we also request that you complete and mail the Infection History Questionaire and the Consult Request.

  2. Collection of two HIV Undetectable Specimens
    The semen viral burden is determined by a highly sensitive PCR assay for HIV that detects both free virus particles (HIV RNA) in seminal plasma and virus infected cells (HIV proviral DNA).

    Semen specimens may be collected in the privacy of the patient's home and shipped overnight to the laboratory for testing.

  3. Semen Specimens are tested for HIV, the sperm is "washed" and cryopreserved
    Cryopreserved sperm from specimens with an undetectable viral burden can be shipped to the collaborating clinic for use in IVF or Oligospermia cup procedures. Intra-uterine Insemination (IUI) is NOT an approved SPAR procedure. The clinic can either retain the liquid nitrogen dry shipper for the duration of the procedure and return unused sperm, or transfer the tested specimens to the clinic’s nitrogen freezers.

  4. Treatment at a Collaborating Infertility Clinic
    More than two dozen infertility centers worldwide collaborate with the Bedford Foundation with infertility procedures that meet the needs of the couple. The Bedford clinical lab will only send cryopreserved sperm from semen specimens with an undetectable viral burden. Most collaborating clinics offer IVF as the infertility treatment of choice, but an increasing number also offer insemination via oligospermia cup.