HIV Testing of Infants Born to Infected Mothers
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) increasingly is being spread through intravenous drug use and heterosexual contact, leading to higher rates of infection among women of childbearing age. As a result, perinatal transmission of the virus now accounts for more than 90% of HIV infection among preadolescent children in the United States.
Current estimates suggest that 15% to 35% of infants born to HIV-infected women are themselves infected, either in utero or intrapartum. With the advent of treatment against HIV directly as well as against Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia prophylactically, early identification of those newborns who actually have been infected perinatally has become an issue of real consequence.
