Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - Tuesday, July 11, 1989
The drug zidovudine, more commonly known as AZT, will be given in the third trimester of pregnancy to 10 women who are infected with the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, but who are not showing symptoms of the fatal disease.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the institute, said the experiment is an attempt to find a way of treating one of the fastest growing categories of AIDS patients, newborn babies.
"The prognosis for children (infected) with HIV is grim," said Fauci in an announcement released by his agency. He said that babies born to women infected with AIDS have a 25 percent to 40 percent chance of contracting AIDS and that the disease progresses much more rapidly in them than in adults.
"Of those diagnosed before their first birthday, half die within six months of diagnosis," said Fauci. "It is impossible to count the costs in pain and heartbreak, and the social and economic burden of caring for these children is staggering."
Since 1981, there have been 1,600 cases of AIDS among children. Up to three times that number are thought to be infected with HIV.
The institute said little is known about how AIDS is transmitted from mother to baby, but it is thought to occur either during development within the mother, at birth through contact with the mother's blood, or from breast milk after birth.
Most AIDS infants are born to mothers who are intravenous drug users or who have been sexual partners of drug users.
In the first phase of the study, researchers will enroll six women with no recent history of drug abuse. After the six have completed their course of treatment, the investigators will then treat four women who are intravenous drug abusers and are being maintained on methadone, an approved pharmaceutical used to wean patients from illegal drugs.
All 10 women will start the study with AZT injections and then continue through the rest of their pregnancy by taking 200 milligram AZT pills five times a day. When the test subjects go into labor, AZT will again be injected.
Following delivery, the babies will be carefully monitored for 18 months to determine whether the AZT treatment affected their development. They also will be checked for development of AIDS.
The experimental treatment will be directed by researchers from the University of Miami and the UCLA School of Medicine.
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