Illness and Diseases

It is increasingly recognized that programs to prevent MTCT must also consider the health of the mother. Antiretroviral prophylaxis regimens, although they prevent MTCT, do not stop progression of HIV infection in the mother. Studies in Africa have shown a 3–4-fold increase in the risk of death in children, regardless of their HIV infection status, […]

A remaining significant challenge in resource-limited countries is transmission of HIV through breast-feeding. Infected women in such settings have a significant dilemma: breast-feeding, although it provides substantial health and survival benefits to the infant and contraceptive, economic, and social benefits to the mother, is associated with risk of HIV transmission to the infant. Avoidance of […]

The availability and acceptance of voluntary and confidential HIV counseling and testing services are critical in enabling pregnant women to determine their HIV infection status and to be able to access preventive interventions, and additional resources will be required in many settings to introduce such programs. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and nongovernmental […]

Unfortunately, the complexity and cost of the PACTG 076 zidovudine regimen has restricted its applicability to resource-rich countries. The World Health Organization estimated that 3.2 million children were living with HIV infection at the end of 2002, the vast majority infected through MTCT. More than 90% of these perinatal infections occurred in resource-limited countries. The […]

The results of the South African Intrapartum Nevirapine Trial (SAINT), published in this issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases provide further evidence of the safety and efficacy of short-course antiretroviral prophylaxis regimens for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). SAINT compared 2 intrapartum/postpartum antiretroviral regimens, multiple-dose zidovudine/lamivudine and single-dose […]