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Hospital reduces HIV transmission rate
Louise Flanagan, The Mercury
2008-06-13

A DURBAN hospital has cut the transmission of HIV from pregnant mothers to their babies to less than 3% with dual therapy. The study started with all 2 624 pregnant women who attended McCord's antenatal clinic during the 18 months from March 2004 to August 2005.

Of these, 338 women tested HIV-positive and 302 delivered at McCord. The study assessed these babies. During their pregnancies 44% of the HIV-positive women received highly active antiretroviral treatment. Of the 297 surviving babies, 290 (98%) received the antiretroviral drug nevirapine after birth and 224 (76%) also received the antiretroviral AZT. In six cases there was no record of the baby receiving any antiretroviral treatment. Six weeks later 239 (81%) of the babies were tested seven of these (2.9%) were HIV positive. The hospital used guidelines developed from international studies for its programme. The researchers said this showed that, despite resource constraints, a state-aided hospital could achieve results which compared favourably to those in developed countries.

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