BBC News - Saturday, 1 December, 2001
Dr Chris Valentine from Renfrewshire and Inverclyde NHS Trust said that advancements in treatment had significantly reduced the risk of transmitting the disease during pregnancy.
As part of World Aids Day on Saturday, the health trust is encouraging local pregnant women to consider HIV tests.
The second most common cause of HIV infection worldwide is from mother to baby - but Dr Valentine said the risk can be reduced to less than 1% with special drug treatment.
He said: "The outlook for babies born to HIV-positive mothers in the UK has never been better.
"Only 10 years ago the chance of passing on the infection was 15% but new treatments have cut that risk dramatically.
"With the right drugs, in the right combination and dosage and with good obstetric care, which involves an elective Caesarean, mothers can be almost certain that their baby will not be born HIV-positive.
"This compares to rates of transmission of as much as 45% in the Third World."
Life expectancy
Dr Valentine said that every day babies were being born unnecessarily with the virus and this would not happen if the mother had an HIV test prior to delivery.
He said that natural delivery is three or four times riskier than a planned Caesarean and urged more expectant mothers to come forward for testing.
Dr Valentine added: "Although new treatments for HIV have created a profound increase in life expectancy for people infected with the virus, they are not a cure.
"The best way of preventing HIV infection is to have safer sex by using condoms, which also reduces the chances of catching other sexually transmitted infections."
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