AEGiS-AP: Less Kids Getting AIDS at Birth

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Less Kids Getting AIDS at Birth

The Associated Press; 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020 - Thursday, November 20, 1997; 4:37 p.m. EST
Tara Meyer, Associated Press Writer

ATLANTA (AP) -- The number of American children contracting AIDS from their mothers at birth dropped 43 percent between 1992 and 1996 because women are getting tested earlier and beginning drug treatment, the government said Thursday.

"This is a success story, and it is very encouraging news that our prevention efforts are working," said Dr. Mary Lou Lindegren of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC said 516 children were diagnosed with AIDS in 1996, down 43 percent from 905 in 1992.

The best evidence of prevention's payoff can be seen in the rate of infants diagnosed with AIDS before age 1. The rate has fallen 39 percent, from 8.4 per 100,000 births in 1992 to 5.1 in 1995, the CDC said.

Doctors believe most mothers who pass HIV to their babies do so during delivery, when the infant is exposed to the mother's blood and other fluids.

Nationwide, the anti-viral drug AZT has been given regularly during pregnancy since a successful 1994 experiment. Without treatment, more than 25 percent of HIV-positive mothers will pass the virus to their newborn. With the drug, the rate drops to about 8 percent.

HIV-positive pregnant women begin taking AZT after their first trimester. AZT is then given intravenously during labor. And the infant receives AZT syrup for six weeks after birth.

When babies are born with HIV, 20 percent of them will develop AIDS within the first year of their life. The rest will probably develop the disease over the next 10 years, Ms. Lindegren said.

Currently, 7,310 of the nation's total 626,334 AIDS cases in adults and children were acquired during birth, the CDC said.

Most HIV-infected children are born in developing countries. The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS estimates 350,000 children in developing countries are infected with the AIDS virus during birth.

Copyright 1997/The Associated Press. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.
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