HIV and pregnancy.

Much has changed since the 1989 publication of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology on the subject of AIDS. Therapeutic advances have occurred rapidly such as reduction of vertical transmission of HIV and use of new antiretroviral therapies to monitor and control viral loads. Despite these dramatic advances daunting challenges confront those public health officials trying to reduce the worldwide burden of a virus that infects more than 30 million people. In the June 2001 issue of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology the authors have tried to provide a manual for HIV care. Summaries of the scientific underpinnings of the diseases both immunologic and virologic are presented. The clinical aspects of HIV care are detailed and ethical and behavioral aspects of the disease are discussed. It is hoped that with this guidance obstetricians can continue to serve as advocates and experts for all pregnant women regardless of the diagnoses they bear.