Good treatment prevents babies of HIV mothers from being infected
|
Treatment of HIV patients in Finland has proven to be very effective in preventing mothers with the virus from infecting their unborn babies.
Pentti Koskela, head of the laboratory of the National Public Health Institute, says that the result is globally unique.
Without treatment, the risk of a newborn baby to catch HIV from an infected mother is between 10 and 20 percent.
From 1993, 60 HIV positive pregnant women have been treated in Finland, and none of the children have been infected by the virus.
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Helsinki’s Meilahti Hospital treated 42 such patients between February 1993 and February 2002. The HIV diagnosis was made during routine checkups in the early part of pregnancy at the latest, and both the mothers and the children were treated to prevent the further spread of the infection.
HIV positive mothers do not breast feed their children at all, and are given medication to stop their lactation.
There are about a dozen children in Finland who have caught HIV from their mothers. According to the National Public Health Institute, most of them are children of immigrants. The mothers have not always known that they carried the virus, or they have not had access to methods that prevent its transmission during pregnancy and childbirth.
The children of a few Finnish substance abusers have also caught the virus from their mothers, either during pregnancy, or after birth. The women in those cases did not visit prenatal clinics until it was too late, or otherwise avoided treatment.
The Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District currently has seven HIV positive children under treatment, and they are all doing well.
In addition to HIV, prenatal clinics also check expectant mothers for hepatitis B and syphilis. About ten cases of syphilis and between 60 and 70 carriers of hepatitis B are diagnosed each year. Most of the latter are of foreign origin.
One in four carriers of hepatitis B eventually die of cirrhosis of the liver, or from liver cancer. Vaccinations can prevent the spread of the virus to children.
With proper treatment, carriers of the HIV virus can be productive members of society for decades.
Pentti Koskela, head of the laboratory of the National Public Health Institute, says that the result is globally unique.
Without treatment, the risk of a newborn baby to catch HIV from an infected mother is between 10 and 20 percent.
From 1993, 60 HIV positive pregnant women have been treated in Finland, and none of the children have been infected by the virus.
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Helsinki’s Meilahti Hospital treated 42 such patients between February 1993 and February 2002. The HIV diagnosis was made during routine checkups in the early part of pregnancy at the latest, and both the mothers and the children were treated to prevent the further spread of the infection.
HIV positive mothers do not breast feed their children at all, and are given medication to stop their lactation.
There are about a dozen children in Finland who have caught HIV from their mothers. According to the National Public Health Institute, most of them are children of immigrants. The mothers have not always known that they carried the virus, or they have not had access to methods that prevent its transmission during pregnancy and childbirth.
The children of a few Finnish substance abusers have also caught the virus from their mothers, either during pregnancy, or after birth. The women in those cases did not visit prenatal clinics until it was too late, or otherwise avoided treatment.
The Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District currently has seven HIV positive children under treatment, and they are all doing well.
In addition to HIV, prenatal clinics also check expectant mothers for hepatitis B and syphilis. About ten cases of syphilis and between 60 and 70 carriers of hepatitis B are diagnosed each year. Most of the latter are of foreign origin.
One in four carriers of hepatitis B eventually die of cirrhosis of the liver, or from liver cancer. Vaccinations can prevent the spread of the virus to children.
With proper treatment, carriers of the HIV virus can be productive members of society for decades.
Helsingin Sanomat