subject: Can Aids Be Transmitted To The Fetus During Pregnancy? [print this page] Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) can certainly be transmitted to a fetus of a pregnant woman already infected with HIV/AIDS. This is one reason why AIDS is so prominent in Africa, because women raped during various wars by HIV/AIDS-infected soldiers gave birth to AIDS infected babies. However, not all women that have AIDS will necessarily have a baby with AIDS thanks to modern medications.
The Numbers
According to the March of Dimes, 9200 small children were diagnosed with AIDS in America since 1990. 90% of those children became infected with AIDS while still in the womb. But each year, about 420,000 babies will be born with AIDS to infected mothers. 80% of these women became infected through consensual sex or rape with an infected partner. The other 20% became infected through sharing needles or from receiving AIDS infected blood or tissue.
There is no cure for AIDS, although there are drugs that can slow the effects down. Babies born to infected mothers that cannot afford or do not have access to these drugs will usually die before they mature. According to a 2009 report by the United Nations, in every hour of every day, an average of 31 children die of AIDS. That is 744 per day, every day.
When Is The Baby Infected?
There is some controversy about just how a baby becomes infected. Is it before birth, during the birth process or shortly afterwards? Mothers can also pass on the disease through their breast milk, so any woman that has tested positive for HIV or AIDS should never breast feed her baby.
The March of Dimes also points out that infected women that get Cesarean sections have fewer infected babies than infected women who give birth vaginally. Perhaps contact with the vaginal fluids causes the infection as the baby goes through the birth canal.
Women who know they are infected should not have children. But most women find out after they become pregnant by a man with HIV/AIDS. There are medications that can be used during pregnancy, depending on how far the woman is along in her gestation and how ill she is.
by: Bob White
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