Intermittent shedding of human immunodeficiency virus in semen: implications for sexual transmission.

PURPOSE

We attempt to increase our understanding of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) shedding in semen.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We followed 16 seropositive men for up to 27 months by HIV cocultivation, with a subset evaluated using the polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTS

The proportion with at least 1 HIV positive semen culture increased from 3 of 16 subjects (19%) at visit 1 to 10 (63%) by visit 5. Overall, HIV was cultured from 25 of 114 specimens (22%). Shedding was intermittent for each of the 10 men with at least 1 positive culture and seminal shedding patterns were highly variable.

CONCLUSIONS

By culture and polymerase chain reaction, HIV is shed intermittently in the semen. If cultures are performed often enough most seropositive men shed HIV in the semen.