The right treatment can nearly eliminate the risk that a pregnant woman with HIV will pass the virus to her child.
Data on over 5,000 HIV pregnancies in the UK and Ireland between 2000 and 2006 found an infant infection rate of just 1.2% where preventative steps were taken. In the mid-1990s, before effective drug therapy became available, the infant infection rate was over 20%.
The researchers at University College, London who led the Aids Online study, said it was the first time such low rates of infection had been observed. The majority of HIV positive women in the UK now take a combination of antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs during pregnancy.
A Caesarean section delivery reduces the risk of infection to the child - but the latest study showed that in many cases the drugs are so effective that a normal delivery is possible. Transmission rates for women on ART for at least the last 14 days of pregnancy were 0.8% - regardless of the type of delivery.
The researchers said the key to success was that most women in the UK and Ireland now accepted antenatal testing for HIV. The introduction of routine screening saw the estimated proportion of infected women diagnosed before delivery rise from about 70% in 200 to about 95% in 2005.
It was found that under 10% of pregnant women with HIV in developing countries had access to the anteretroviral drugs. As a result, about 1,800 babies were born with HIV each day because their mothers did not get the drugs they need.
Lead researcher Claire Townsend said the figures.... "demonstrate that if women are tested for HIV early enough in pregnancy for ART to be initiated, the risk of infection to their baby is very low indeed. This emphasizes the importance of achieving and maintaining a high uptake of antenatal HIV testing on a national scale."
Lisa Power, of the HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "With the right treatment and relevant support, the vast majority of women living with HIV can have healthy uninfected children. This is why testing for HIV in pregnancy is so important and why treatment for pregnant women living with HIV in the UK should always be free, whatever their immigration status."
May 2008
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