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Author(s) -
Mellis Craig
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1754.2011.02108.x
Subject(s) - medicine , breastfeeding , coeliac disease , serology , breast feeding , transmission (telecommunications) , pediatrics , obstetrics , pregnancy , disease , immunology , antibody , biology , electrical engineering , genetics , engineering
It is now possible to reduce enormously mother-to-child transmission of HIV through prevention strategies and use of anti-retrovirals. An important study from Zimbabwe (the ZVITAMBO study group), which was conducted before antiretroviral therapy was available for mothers or babies, documents the risk of post-natal acquisition of HIV. If a woman has chronic HIV infection and her baby was HIV negative at birth but breastfed, the infection risk is a steady 9 per 100 child-years of breastfeeding so 9% of breastfed babies will become HIV positive by a year of age (this study did not address mixed breast and bottle feeding, which carries an even higher risk of HIV transmission than breast milk alone). If the mother seroconverted post-partum a breastfed infant had a 23.6% risk by 12 months of being HIV positive. The authors documented high-level viraemia and high levels of HIV in breast milk at the time of infection. The corollary was that the infant was at highest risk in the 3 months following maternal infection (Fig. 1). Reference