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Program halts transmission to babies
SAN FRANCISCO-Aggressive therapy has eliminated mother-to-child HIV transmission in one program here.
Not one of 56 HIV-positive pregnant women treated at San Francisco General’s Bay Area Perinatal AIDS Center since April 1995 has delivered an infected baby, says UCSF’s Dr. Karen Beckerman. The therapy relies on combination antiretroviral drugs, careful monitoring, and counseling.
Of 58 babies (including two sets of twins) born during that period, 43 have had at least four negative viral tests by age six months, nine have had two negative tests by age six weeks, and six have had negative tests at birth, Dr. Beckerman said at inauguration ceremonies of the UCSF AIDS Research Institute. All are to be monitored until their second birthday.
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