HIV infection is the 7th leading cause of death for U.S. children 1 to 14 years old. In the northeastern United States, it is the leading cause of death among children ages 2 to 5. Most children infected with HIV, acquire the virus from their mothers before or during birth. 50 to 80 % of childhood HIV cases occur late in pregnancy or during birth. It is thought by some scientists, that HIV may be transmitted when maternal blood enters the fetal circulation, or by exposure of the babies mucous membranes to the virus during labor and delivery.
HIV infection difficult to diagnose in very young children, especially in the first few months of life, since HIV infected babies often appear normal and may not show any telltale signs that would allow a diagnosis of HIV infection. Children born to infected mothers have antibodies to HIV, produced by the mother's immune system, that crosses the placenta to the baby's bloodstream before birth and persists for up to 18 months.
Blood tests can diagnose HIV infection in children 6 months of age and younger. One test known as Polymerase Chain Reaction can detect minute quantities of the virus in an infant's blood. Another allows a child's doctor to culture a sample of an infant's blood and test for the presence of HIV in the babies' blood. These can detect approximately 1/3 of infants, at birth, who are positively infected with HIV, with 90% identified by 2 months of age, and 95% by 3 months of age. Early detection is important, since the earlier the treatment the better the opportunity for a child to live as full a life as possible. If the medication, AZT (zidovudine) is given to a mother who has HIV while she is pregnant, and to baby after birth, the maternal transmission of HIV from mother to baby is reduced by 2/3's.
Some factors contributing to a mother passing HIV on to her baby include:
· drug use by the mother · severe inflammation of fetal membranes · prolonged period between membrane rupture and delivery. · breast-feeding introduces an additional risk of HIV transmission of approximately 14 percent among women with chronic HIV infection. · A small number of children are also infected by sexual or physical abuse committed by an adult infected with the HIV virus
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