Lowering HIV transmission risk from breastfeeding with antiretroviral treatment
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 08:30
in Health & Medicine
Every day, 1500 young infants in the world contract HIV from their mother. Ninety per cent of them live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Infection occurs in utero or during delivery, or later during breastfeeding. Now mothers can breastfeed with less risk. An international consortium of researchers recently showed that by taking an antiretroviral treatment up to the sixth month of breastfeeding, mothers can halve the probability of contaminating their child in comparison with standard treatment recommended in the previous WHO (World Health Organization) protocol guidelines.