HIV and Aids

Mother and baby risk
HIV infection can be passed from mother to baby before or during birth and through breastfeeding. Among HIV-infected pregnant women who have not received any preventive treatment, mother-to-infant HIV transmission rates range from 15-25 per cent in developed countries, to 25-45 per cent in developing countries where an estimated 1,800 HIV-infected babies are born each day.

Research has demonstrated that drugs can prevent mother-to-infant transmission. When women and their infants receive the antiretroviral drug, AZT, the risk of transmission is lowered nearly three fold. Any pregnant women in the UK may have an HIV test if she wishes, but these tests are not routine.

HIV-infected women are more likely to experience gynaecological disorders than HIV-negative women, and are much more likely to have abnormal cervical smears. Consequently, screening more frequently is advised for women with symptomatic HIV infection, prior abnormal cervical smears or signs of human papillomavirus infection (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease that causes genital warts and lesions.