Indiana's Health Dept. Launches HIV Awareness Website

The Indiana State Department of Health has launched a website to educate patients and health care professionals about the importance of perinatal HIV testing, as part of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which took place on March 10. The website, www.1test2lives.org, is part of the "One Test Two Lives" campaign. Perinatal transmission is the most common route of HIV infection in children.

Since the 1980s, more than 800 Indiana children have been infected perinatally with HIV. CDC recommends that all pregnant women get HIV screenings as early as possible. State health officials assert that only 1-2 percent of HIV-infected women will transmit the virus to their unborn children if they receive appropriate therapy and intervention. Transmission chances increase to 25 percent without proper treatment.

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