Collection and Processing of Seminal Plasma for the Quantitation of HIV-1 RNA by NASBA and RT-PCR

Semen is the major vehicle for the sexual transmission of HIV-1. The ability to isolate infectious HIV from the semen and to quantitate viral burden in the form of cell-free or cell-associated HIV-1 RNA in semen are important for epidemiologic and public health aspects of the epidemic. Earlier studies used viral culture to detect HIV in semen. Cell associated culturable virus recovery rates ranged from 8 to 55% (1-8). Much lower recovery rates (3-15%) were reported by these investigators for cell-free seminal plasma. In general, subjects with lower CD4 counts, higher seminal plasma viral load (>3.5-4 log(10)), and an AIDS diagnosis were more apt to have positive seminal cell HIV cultures.