I start this week by wondering about a big concern for women who are HIV positive. Many people think that as soon as a women has HIV they aren't able to bring life into this world. In 2009, HIV positive women have an option! They can start living their lives instead of having HIV live theirs. I searched the internet for many important facts on this topic and let me tell you I was able to find lots. Along with imformation on how to avoid passing HIV to the baby, I stumbled onto many interesting facts I would like to share.
According to the March of Dimes, there are an estimated
120,000 to 160,000 women
in the United States who have been infected with
HIV.
About 6,000 to 7,000 of women infected with HIV give birth annually.
Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, approximately 15,000 children in the United States have been infected with HIV and 3,000 children have died. About 90 percent of those were infected with the virus during pregnancy or birth.
How is HIV transmitted to the baby?
The most common way of transmission is called "perinatal transmission". The Child can contract HIV from the mother during pregancy, delivery and breastfeeding. This of course makes it very risky for mother who is HIV positive.
Factors which increase the risk of transmission include:
Smoking
Substance abuse
Vitamin A deficiency
Malnutrition
Infections such as STD’s
Clinical stage of HIV, including viral load (quantity of HIV virus in the blood)
Of course, treatment will be different. How so?
A women that is HIV positive will receive both medical attention from a OB/GYN as well as from an HIV specialist. The doctors will also help her emotionally and mentally.
Zidovudine (also known as ZDV, AZT and Retrovir) was the first drug licensed to treat HIV. Now it is used in combination with other anti-HIV drugs and is often used to prevent perinatal transmission of HIV. ZDV should be given to HIV-infected women beginning in the second trimester and continuing throughout pregnancy, labor and delivery. Side effects include nausea, vomiting and low red or white blood cell counts.
THIS IS AMAZING!!!
March of Dimes, http://www.marchofdimes.com/
Maternal & Neonatal Health, Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS: Reducing the Risks.
This was a very interesting post. I did not know that HIV positive women could have children without infecting their baby and I did not know that there were drugs to help keep the baby from getting the virus. But besides the safety issues, I think the parents should consider the emotional issues. They need to consider the difficulties that will come when the child loses their parent to HIV at a young age. Even though someone who is HIV positive can live a fairly long life, they still are going to die younger than someone who does not have HIV. Most likely, their child will be grown by the time they die but from experience, I know that even at the age of 20, I still need my mom. How is that mother going to feel when she can no longer accompany and guide her child through the process of growing up? I wouldn't discourage anybody who is HIV positive from having a baby if that is what they truly want, I just think it would be a good idea for them to consider the future when making that decision.
ReplyDeleteYes, I totally understand where your coming from. But I think it gives HIV positive women a sign of hope that not all is gone. They can still have their dream of becoming a mother.
ReplyDeleteMany HIV positive mothers have given birth to HIV negative children. HIV positive men have impregnated their wife/GF/SO with sperm that has been washed. Remember that HIV is present in bodily fluids and not clean sperm. Just because a person is HIV positive, it does not mean they have to give up having a family. There is no "perfect" family anymore. In fact, there never was. We were only lead to believe that there was. :>)
ReplyDeleteLife is a gamble and when ever someone gives birth, there are no guarantees that the parent will live long enough to see their child grow up. What is important is that the child feels love and that love can come from anyone; i.e. a grandparents, another family member, etc.
I've always wondered how the transmission actually occurred from mother to child... if it was sometime during conception or as a fetus. So I actually "didn't know" in response to your "Did you know?" that the most common ways were through delivery, breastfeeding, and pregnancy... all three! I wonder how much not breastfeeding and bottle feeding instead would lessen the chances of infecting the baby?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/transmission.htm
According to the CDC, there has never been a reported case of transmission though saliva, tears, or sweat, although is a very small concentration of HIV in these bodily fluids of infected individuals. I wonder what makes breastmilk different and able to transmit it?
The fact that the infection can occur during delivery reminds me of how the Rh complication can occur when an Rh-/Rh+ mother and child combo occurs during delivery. Is it from the blood to blood contact?