Human immunodeficiency virus infection in pregnant women, transmission and zidovudine therapy

Objective: To determine the rate of mother to child transmission of HIV infection in women treated with zidovudine (ZDV). Patients and methods: A consecutive series of 52 HIV-positive pregnant women who either received antenatal care or delivered at our institution. Forty-three women were known to be HIV positive before delivery. Forty were treated with ZDV, 36 intravenously. Twelve had no antenatal care and one refused antenatal treatment. All neonates were treated with ZDV. Results: The HIV transmission rate in children born to mothers treated with ZDV was 6.6%. This compares with a transmission rate of 14% before we used ZDV. All three mothers who transmitted infection had low compliance, initiated therapy late in pregnancy or had advanced disease. Conclusion: Our experience supports the idea that ZDV treatment has reduced HIV transmission rate.