Human Immunodeficiency Virus And The Fetus

Abstract

About 2 percent of current cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome are among patients less than 13 years of age. When a woman infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) becomes pregnant, her neonate has approximately a 40 percent chance of becoming infected vertically in the perinatal period. Experience in detecting HIV-infected pregnant women and in diagnosing their affected neonates has been less than satisfactory. In this review, the epidemiology, pathogenesis, transmission, clinical manifestations, diagnosis, and treatment-prevention of perinatal HIV infection are discussed.