Babies On The Breast Of HIV Moms

Babies On The Breast Of HIV Moms

Late postnatal infections occurred throughout the duration of breastfeeding, with children becoming infected at any time, from when they were 4 weeks old until they were 18 months old. In all, late postnatal transmissions occurred among 42 percent of the 993 children for whom timing of HIV infection was known.

The analysis also revealed that children of mothers who had low levels of CD4 cells were more likely to become infected with HIV than were children whose mothers had higher CD4 levels.

"The association of lower maternal CD4+ counts and a higher risk of transmission was not unexpected," Dr. Read said. "Individuals with lower CD4+ counts may have higher concentrations of HIV in the bloodstream and in breastmilk."

The researchers do not know why male infants were more likely to develop late postnatal infections than female infants were. A possible explanation is that, due to gender differences in immune functioning, girls are less susceptible to the infection after 4 weeks of age than are boys. The researchers wrote that other studies have found that the immune systems of infected male infants vary somewhat from the immune systems of infected female infants.

According to Dr. Read, the study findings might be useful in devising new strategies to prevent infected mothers from passing HIV to their infants through breast milk. Such strategies are essential, she said, as many women in poor countries don't have the option of formula feeding their infants. In some areas, formula may be too expensive for women to afford. Other areas may lack clean water, and mixing formula with local water may place infants at greater risk of contracting often times fatal diarrheal diseases. In other areas, it may be socially unacceptable for women not to breast feed their infants. In such areas, she explained, choosing not to breast feed - or any other sign that a woman is infected with HIV - may result in adverse consequences for the woman, such as being the victim of domestic violence.

The researchers discussed possible strategies for preventing the virus from spreading through breast milk, such as giving anti-HIV drugs to mothers who are breast feeding. Similarly, such drugs might be given to infants while they are breast feeding. "

An important implication of our analyses is that, since children of HIV-1-infected mothers have a consistent and substantial risk of acquisition of HIV-1 throughout the period of breast-feeding, to be most effective, interventions to prevent transmission through breast-feeding should be continued until the cessation of breast-feeding," the researchers wrote.