Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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United Press International; Thursday November 20, 1997 - 6:33 PM EST
The number of babies developing AIDS at birth dropped 43 percent from 1992 to 1996. It is the first time the drop has been documented on a national basis in the United States.
Dr. Mary Lou Lindegren, told UPI the reason for the big change is the increased use of AZT on pregnant women. Commenting on the study in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she said federal guidelines that prescribe the use of the drug on mothers-to-be have shown "a dramatic decline in the epidemic."
Women get AZT during pregnancy and intravenously during delivery. After birth, babies are given AZT for six weeks to knock out the virus.
Lindegrin says, "We don't know which part of the regimen works, but we've proved it works. AZT use increased among HIV-positive pregnant women from 24 percent to 64 percent during that time.
Lindegren said that "last year we reported a decline, but this year the decline is even more dramatic."
Earlier studies show as much as a 66 percent drop in infant AIDS, but Lindegren said those figures came from selected groups and cannot be compared with today's national figures.
She says the decline in the number of infants developing AIDS shows in all areas of the United States and across all racial and ethnic lines.
According to federal statistics, pre-birth infections account for virtually all new HIV cases in children. Through 1993 an estimated 15, 000 babies were born infected with the virus and 7,310 developed AIDS as of September.
Better medical surveillance increased the identification of HIV positive babies at birth from 3 percent to 64 percent. The early warning gives doctors a chance to give the infants drugs that will prevent AIDS or in some cases knock the virus out.
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