New therapy may slow AIDS transmission to babies

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are 100,000 HIV positive women of child-bearing age in the United States, and that 7,000 infants are born to infected mothers each year. The U.S. rate of perinatal HIV transmission among women not receiving antiretroviral therapy is 15 to 30 per cent. Recent findings from a major clinical trial suggest that treating mothers and newborns with zidovudine may significantly lower the risk of HIV transmission.

The CDC cautions, however, that potential risks linked to antiretroviral treatment during pregnancy should be carefully considered.

The Zidovudine in Pregnancy Registry was installed in 1989 by the Wellcome Foundation, in conjunction with the CDC, to measure the incidence of infants with structural defects. An analysis of the registry finds that the observed proportion of birth defects among infants of women who received zidovudine therapy was two per cent, not significantly different from the three per cent that characterizes the general population.

The findings, however, are preliminary, and the sample limited. The CDC says

the registry must be sustained to monitor for possible birth defects among infants of women who received zidovudine therapy during pregnancy.

(From Journal of the American Medical Association, 7/04/94. Vol. 272, No. 1,

P. 17.)