AEGiS-SC: State survey of babies who got HIV at birth

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

State survey of babies who got HIV at birth

San Francisco Chronicle - Friday, September 8, 1989

Sacramento - Final results from a survey among California mothers and their newborn babies showed that one in every 1,344 mothers was infected with HIV, the AIDS virus, and passed it on to their babies, state health officials reported yesterday. The anonymous survey tested blood samples from all the live infants born to 135,762 women in California during three months last year. It found that 101 infants had acquired the potentially lethal virus from their infected mothers during pregnancy, according to Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer, the state's health director. The problem was especially acute among black newborns, Kizer said. Among the 9,364 black women whose babies were tested, one in every 275 mothers was carrying the AIDS virus during pregnancy. The infection rate among white women was 12 times lower. One in 3,332 white mothers was found to be infected, the study showed. Among Hispanic mothers, the rate was one infection in every 1,377 women -- a rate more than twice that observed among white women. "These results underscore the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic in the black community in California," Kizer said. "The generally lower rate of infection among Hispanics suggests an important opportunity to prevent a more serious situation -- such as that seen in the eastern United States -- from developing here." The infection rate among all women in the six Bay Area counties was substantially lower than it was in Los Angeles, according to the report: Among 20,977 Bay Area women giving birth during the study period, 27 tested HIV positive for a rate of one infection in every 777 mothers. In Los Angeles County 45,884 women gave birth and 44 were infected -- a rate of one infection in every 1,043 births.

Keywords: AIDS; MOTHERS; BABIES; POLLS; CA
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