Since the incidence of perinatal HIV has declined significantly, the disease has been effectively eradicated in the United States, and less than 1 baby in every 100,000 births is infected with the virus, which is a major concern for disease control. A new study released today by researchers at the Center for Prevention reveals.
This report marks important progress towards the US government’s goal of eradicating perinatal HIV. passed from mother to baby during pregnancyOnly 32 children were diagnosed in the country in 2019, compared with twice as many in 2010, according to the CDC.
HIV-positive mothers can prevent infection. antiretroviral therapyAccording to Monica Gandhi, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine in the Department of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and International Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Gandhi said he could only recall one case of perinatal HIV infection in the San Francisco area in the past decade.
“The country is very active in counseling pregnant women and caring for mothers,” Gandhi said.
The cure was discovered over 30 years ago. Prior to treatment and subsequent awareness campaigns to prevent infection, HIV-infected mothers typically pass the virus to their children in the womb, during childbirth, or while breastfeeding.
“Given how long we’ve been using these drugs, there should be zero children born with HIV,” Gandhi said.
disparities continue
But challenges remain in some communities where babies born to black mothers are disproportionately affected by the disease, new research reveals.
“Racial and ethnic differences in perinatal HIV diagnosis persisted over 10 years,” the authors of the report concluded. “Her perinatal HIV diagnosis rates were highest among infants born to black women.”
Perinatal HIV infection rates among babies born to black mothers have declined over a decade-long study, but data show that the diagnosis rate was 3.1 for every 100,000 live births, surpassing elimination targets.
In contrast, the infection rate was around 1% to 2% for mothers who identified as “other races,” including Latino and Hispanic women and Native Americans.
Despite the availability of drugs, expectant mothers struggle to get the daily care they need to prevent transmission to their unborn babies, according to Jennifer Zhao, M.D., an infectious disease physician at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. You may face some hurdles.
They may struggle to secure health insurance, find transportation to see a doctor, or face problems such as lack of safe housing or food.
“All these things affect the mix,” Zhao said. “Bridging the gap means we see time and time again that we have to reach out to pregnant women and women who don’t have the resources.”
“Danger” progress
Experts say they don’t know how the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the recent rise in sexually transmitted infections, will affect perinatal HIV incidence. Some women were unable to access prenatal health care because they were unable to access public transportation or childcare during the pandemic. The U.S. Government Accountability Office last year.
Globally, the decline in HIV and AIDS incidence is slowing, World Health Organization warns last year that disease progression is in dangerGandhi noted that the data is outdated because the researchers only included HIV infection rates in the United States through 2019.
“All of this combined means that we don’t know the perinatal transmission landscape over the past three years,” she said.
In an accompanying editorial, co-authors Nahida Chakhtoura, M.D., MsGH, and Bill Kapogiannis, M.D., both at the National Institutes of Health, urge health care professionals to close these racial and ethnic divides. We encourage you to play an active role in Their editorial declaration is titled Achieving a “Road to Zero Perinatal HIV Infections” in the United States.
“The more we are committed to identifying and rapidly addressing systemic deficiencies that exacerbate health inequities in cutting-edge research innovation and optimal clinical service delivery, the more likely new communicable diseases will emerge. They are less responsive when symptoms appear in front of them,” they wrote. .”
Pediatrics. Published online on April 18, 2023.
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