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Use of enhanced perinatal human immunodeficiency virus surveillance methods to assess antiretroviral use and perinatal human immunodeficiency virus transmission in the United States, 1999-2001.

Harris NS, Fowler MG, Sansom SL, Ruffo N, Lampe MA

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.

OBJECTIVE: Significant reductions in perinatal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission have been demonstrated in which the HIV-infected mothers and their HIV-exposed infants receive prenatal, intrapartum, and neonatal antiretroviral therapy. STUDY DESIGN: We used data that were collected through the Enhanced Perinatal Surveillance system for HIV-exposed singleton births that occurred 1999-2001 in 24 sites. RESULTS: The overall infant infection rate for the 3 years was 4.7%. Compared with zidovudine monotherapy, those patients who received zidovudine with other drugs that included a protease inhibitor and those who received zidovudine and other drugs with no protease inhibitor were less likely to have an infected infant (adjusted odds ratio, 0.4 [95% CI, 0.3-0.07]; adjusted odds ratio, 0.5 [95% CI, 0.3-0.8], respectively). CONCLUSION: These data support the current treatment recommendations and show that infants were less likely to be infected when the mothers were given a prenatal antiretroviral therapy regimen that contained zidovudine with additional antiretroviral drugs with or without a protease inhibitor in addition to receiving antiretrovirals during delivery and neonatally.

Published 10 September 2007 in Am J Obstet Gynecol, 197(3): S33-41.
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