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CNN Live At Daybreak

Men Who Have AIDS Virus Could Have Hope of Having Children

Aired June 14, 2002 - 06:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In health news this morning, men who have the AIDS virus usually shy away from having children for fear they will pass the potentially deadly virus on to their offspring. But as CNN's Maria Hinojosa reports, a new procedure could change that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Every mother thinks their baby is a miracle, but two-year-old Toby is a little more miracle than most. This spunky, blonde boy was born to a HIV-positive father.

SALLY MORRISON, TOBY'S MOTHER: I think that the idea that we were getting nearer to me getting pregnant or having a child probably bought him some time.

HINOJOSA: The miracle here is that Toby and his mother, Sally, are both HIV-negative. Toby is the product of an obscure but growing medical procedure called sperm washing.

DR. MARK SAUER, CENTER FOR WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH: What we are trying to do is just separate out the sperm that are largely, if not totally, free of virus from the virus containing part of the semen.

HINOJOSA: Just three sperm labs out of 400 in the U.S. have agreed to do the procedure, some fearing other patients will be scared away by the present of HIV-positive sperm. Other doctors fear accidental infections or challenge the wisdom of enabling critically ill patients to have children.

MORRISON: A lot is being done to help, say, people with leukemia have children. That before people go into certain kinds of cancer treatment, they are encouraged to store sperm in case the treatments damage the sperm. Why should people with AIDS be different?

HINOJOSA: But while medical technology made it possible for Paul (ph) to create healthy life, it could not stop his own death from AIDS.

MORRISON: The night before he died, he talked about we are going to have a baby this year. It's going to be about a year. And then it just sort of was over. HINOJOSA: Paul died long before Toby was even born, but his doctor continues to use the procedure at a rate of one per week.

SAUER: They see the road that they are on, but they still want to live a full life.

HINOJOSA: Something that came too late for Paul, though not necessarily for many others.

(on camera): Outside the United States, nearly 3,000 babies have been born using this procedure. Not one of them, nor their mothers, has been infected with the virus.

Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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