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HIV+ girlfriend possible to deliver health baby
Aug 15, 2005
Hello, my girlfriend was diagnosed Jan. 2005 and she is now 3 weeks pregnant and her CD4 count and her VL seem to be improving or at least not getting worse. She is not on any meds right now and I assume since she does have a VL that this means it is "detectable". We are seriously considering keeping the baby but I would like to know what the chances are of the baby contracting HIV and what are the best steps to take to ensure the lowest chance of the baby contracting HIV, or if because of her counts if it is even fair for us to consider keeping the baby. I am negative and continue to be so since we found out that she was HIV+.
I know that you have answered similar questions in the archives but had to put my question in the form of what my concerns are specifically.
Please, if you can, offer me any advice that you can.
Thank you very, very much.
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Response from Dr. Luzuriaga
With proper planning and care, the risks of transmitting the virus to the baby can be very low. Maternal viral load is the strongest predictor of the risk of transmission -- transmission can occur at any viral load but the higher the viral load, the higher the risk. Antiviral medications can markedly lower the mom's viral load and protect the baby from acquiring infection. So, antiviral therapy of mom and baby are usually recommended to reduce the risk of transmission and the risk of transmission can fall to under 1% when mom has undetectable viral loads and is on antiviral medications.
You and your girlfriend should check out the many excellent resources on this web site (including past answers to questions). The Guidelines to the Use of Antiretroviral Agents During Pregnancy (available in the Treatment Guidelines section of this web site) are particularly helpful because they give a fairly comprehensive background on mother-to-child HIV transmission and outlines recommendations for the use of antiretroviral therapy to minimize the risk of transmission. Good luck and please wirte back if further questions arise.
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