Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - December 22, 2008
Apiradee Treerutkuarkul
Aids experts hope to reduce perinatal HIV transmission by distributing combinative drugs - GPO-VIR, efavirenz and lopinavir/ritonavir - to pregnant HIV-positive mothers by October next year, Thai Red Cross Aids Research Centre director Praphan Phanuphak said.
Under the existing programme, only zidovudine (AZT) is provided to HIV-infected women from the twentieth week of pregnancy. A tablet of nevirapine is then provided during the onset of labour.
AZT and lamivudine are given only during the first week after delivery to reduce nevirapine resistance.
The Aids transmission rate from mother-to-child under the existing treatment formula is 4%.
Dr Praphan said that in a trial of the new combinative treatment, using GPO-VIR and lopinavir/ritonavir, by the Thai Red Cross on 2,000 HIV-infected mothers, it was found that the mother-to-child transmission rate dropped to 2%.
Manoon Leechawengwong, president of the Thai Aids Society, earlier called on the ministry not to hesitate to provide combinative antiretroviral drugs in place of the single-dose regimen for reducing mother-to-child infections.
He criticised the present national treatment programme saying it focused on preventing children from getting Aids but did not consider the level of drug resistance HIV-positive mothers could develop.
It could even increase the chances of pregnant HIV-infected women becoming drug resistant, he said.
Thailand had enough money to improve its prevention programme after announcing a policy of compulsory licensing to bypass the patents on Aids drugs efavirenz and lopinavir/ritonavir, Dr Manoon said.
About 7,000-8,000 new cases of pregnant women infected with HIV/Aids are reported each year.
Without better measures to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission, the number of newborn babies infected with the deadly virus could rise from 1,800 to 2,000 a year, according to the ministry.
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