AEGiS-AP: Fewer AIDS babies being born in America, but worldwide transmissions remain at epidemic levels

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Fewer AIDS babies being born in America, but worldwide transmissions remain at epidemic levels

Associated Press - November 22, 2003

(AP) -- The World Health Organization estimates that about 800,000 infants become infected with HIV each year around the globe, mainly through mother-to-child transmission, which can occur during pregnancy and labor or after delivery through breast milk.

The problem is most acute in developing nations, where mothers have little access to AIDS treatment: Health experts say such transmissions could largely be prevented by drugs administered before, during and immediately after birth. That's backed up by a dramatic decrease in the number of U.S. cases of perinatal HIV, as it is known.

Experts at the federal Centers for Disease Control believe the number AIDS babies born annually in the United States peaked in 1991 with an estimated 1,760. The CDC estimates that as few as 280 were born infected with HIV in the United States in 2000 -- a decline of more than 80 percent.

There are no estimates of how many of the children born HIV-positive in the 1980s and early '90s are still alive.

Despite successes in this country, preventing mother-to-infant transmission is still of great concern to officials at the CDC and other health organizations. They worry that, as the number of American women living with HIV continues to grow, eliminating mother-to-infant transmission will prove increasingly difficult.

By educating physicians and the public, officials hope that more pregnant women will agree to be tested for HIV so that, if they are positive, they can get treatment for themselves and also prevent transmission to their babies.
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