HAART and Late Entry Into Prenatal HIV Care
Researchers found that women, both treatment experienced and treatment naive, who had greater than 50% adherence to HAART during the prenatal period were able to reduce their viral load to under 400 copies/mL in approximately 26 days. Viral load suppression was also influenced by greater adherence to the prescribed medications and lower baseline viral load. This shows that even late entry into HIV prenatal care, with high adherence to HAART, can reduce the rate of perinatal HIV transmission due to lower viral loads at delivery.
Citation:
Aziz N, Sokoloff A, Kornak J, Leva NV, Mendiola ML, Levison J, Feakins C, Shannon M, Cohan D. Time to viral load suppression in antiretroviral-naive and -experienced HIV-infected pregnant women on highly active antiretroviral therapy: implications for pregnant women presenting late in gestation. BJOG. 2013 Nov;120(12):1534-47.
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