Efficacy Of Strategies To Reduce Mother To Child HIV-1 Transmission In Argentina, 1993-2000.

A. CEBALLOS, M.A. PANDO, D.LIBERATORE, M.BIGLIONE, P.COLL CÁRDENAS, M.MARTÍNEZ, M.L.CELADILLA, M.M.AVILA, L.MARTÍNEZ PERALTA.

JOURNAL OF ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROMES AND HUMAN RETROVIROLOGY

Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

Lugar: Filadelfia, USA 2004.; Año: 2002 vol. 31 p. 348 - 353

1077-9450

This study evaluated the success of a national program for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV-1 in 874 mother–infant pairs from Buenos Aires and surroundings. This population was referred to the National Reference Center for AIDS for diagnosis of neonatal infection during 1993–2000. The data revealed an increase in the use of antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy from 3.2% in 1993–1994 to 73.1% in 1999–2000 and in the use of cesarean delivery (reaching 54.8% in 1999–2000). However, the proportion of HIV-infected women who continued to breast-feed their children remained steady (around 12%). General improvement of the conditions for decreasing MTCT resulted in a significant decrease in the proportion of infected infants from 37.3% before 1995 to 10.7% in 1999–2000 and even 6.5% during 2001. Data on the time of diagnosis indicated that only 42.7% of the women knew about their HIV status before pregnancy, 44.8 knew during pregnancy, and 12.3% knew after the birth of their child. The main risk factor for HIV infection in the mothers was heterosexual contact (73%), and in the fathers, it was injection drug use (67%). These results point out the urgent need to develop additional strategies for prevention of MTCT of HIV-1 to generalize education, counseling, and testing of young women. This study evaluated the success of a national program for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV-1 in 874 mother–infant pairs from Buenos Aires and surroundings. This population was referred to the National Reference Center for AIDS for diagnosis of neonatal infection during 1993–2000. The data revealed an increase in the use of antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy from 3.2% in 1993–1994 to 73.1% in 1999–2000 and in the use of cesarean delivery (reaching 54.8% in 1999–2000). However, the proportion of HIV-infected women who continued to breast-feed their children remained steady (around 12%). General improvement of the conditions for decreasing MTCT resulted in a significant decrease in the proportion of infected infants from 37.3% before 1995 to 10.7% in 1999–2000 and even 6.5% during 2001. Data on the time of diagnosis indicated that only 42.7% of the women knew about their HIV status before pregnancy, 44.8 knew during pregnancy, and 12.3% knew after the birth of their child. The main risk factor for HIV infection in the mothers was heterosexual contact (73%), and in the fathers, it was injection drug use (67%). These results point out the urgent need to develop additional strategies for prevention of MTCT of HIV-1 to generalize education, counseling, and testing of young women.