Challenges Towards Elimination of Perinatal HIV in the US
Although perinatal HIV transmission is nearly zero in many groups throughout the United States, there are still those groups that are seeing consistently high rates of transmission. Researchers looked at HIV-exposed infants referred for follow-up care over a seven year period and found an overall average transmission rate of 6%. Those women that transmitted HIV perinatally were less likely to have had prenatal care and were more likely to have had detectable viral loads at delivery. They often were IV drug users as well. This research supports the move toward repeat third trimester testing as another avenue to prevent perinatal transmission.
Citation:
Del Bianco G, Bell CS, Benjamins LJ, Perez N, Rodriguez G, Murphy JR, Heresi GP. Persistently high perinatal transmission of HIV: Assessment of risk factors. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2014 Jun;33(6):e151-7.
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