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| will my unborn baby be positive Mar 31, 2006 i hav learnt that my CD4 count is 144 cells and i havent started taking any medications due to luck of them here in affrica even knowing my CD4 took 3months. am now seven months pregnant are there chances that my baby will be negative if i start taking medicine and which medicine should i start taking? or what should i do? please advice am desparate |
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Response from Dr. Sullivan
You are at high risk for transmitting HIV to your baby; if your baby has not yet become infected[ the majority of infections occur during the birth process and during the breast feeding period] you have an opportunity to prevent your baby from becoming infected; ideally, you should immediately begin a 3 drug regimen which can completely suppress viral replication, even with 3 powerful drugs this takes several weeks so you should begin treatment as soon as possible; this 3 drug treatment regimen will suppress your virus and the result will be a big increase in your CD4 cells; your health will be much improved which will allow you to care for your baby; if your viral load[ copies of the virus in your blood]becomes undetectable the chances of you passing HIV to your baby are less than 1%[ less than 1 in 100]; your continuing treatment after the baby is born would also offer significant protection to your baby if you had to brestfeed your baby; if you do not have access to treatment with 3 drugs , a single drug, AZT can offer significant protection agaist your passing the virus to your baby; again you should start AZT as soon as possible with the understanding that AZT will probably not help your own health but will protect the baby; you should also try to access nevirapine and when you go into labor you should take a single 200mg tablet and make sure your baby get at least 6 mg of nevirapine at 2-3 days of age; if you are not able to access AZT, you should still try to get the nevirapine[ nevirapine is the most widely accessible drug available in the world] for a dose during labor and deliver and a dose for the baby; JLS. |
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