ART drugs for pregnant women eradicates baby's risk of HIV

Researchers in Britain say a baby's risk of contracting HIV from its mother can be almost eradicated with the use of antiretroviral drugs.

The researchers from University College London say with the appropriate treatment the risk of mother-to-baby transmission can be vastly reduced.

In an online AIDS study, the researchers found that as a result of effective drug therapy, of 5,151 HIV pregnancies in the UK and Ireland between 2000 and 2006, an infant infection rate of just 1.2% occurred where preventative steps were taken.

This when compared with infant infection rates of over 20% in the mid-1990s, before effective drug therapy became available, is a significant improvement.

According to the researchers this is the first time such low rates of infection have been observed and is a direct result of the combination of antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs now offered to HIV positive women in the UK.

They say this indicates how important testing for HIV is and also why treatment for pregnant women living with HIV must be free of cost.

As Caesarean section delivery considerably reduces the risk of infection to the child, this has often been the option offered.

The research also found that transmission rates for women on ART for at least the last 14 days of pregnancy were 0.8% regardless of the type of delivery and shows that in many cases the drugs were effective enough to allow for a normal delivery.

The researchers say the success can be attributed to the fact that the majority of pregnant women in the UK are now routinely screened for HIV.

Prior to the introduction of routine screening the estimated proportion of infected women diagnosed before delivery rose from around 70% in 2000 to about 95% in 2005.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says access to ART drugs is severely limited in developing countries and under 10% of pregnant women with HIV in these countries had access to the drugs.

The WHO says as a result as many as 1,800 babies are born with HIV each day because their mothers did not get the drugs they needed.

Lead researcher Claire Townsend says the findings were "greatly encouraging" and 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.

In Australia pregnant women are offered routine HIV tests as part of the initial pregnancy diagnosis.