Evaluation of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV in a Tertiary Care Centre

Introduction: It is estimated that 22000-61000of pregnant women living with HIV in India have mother to child transmission (MTCT) rate of 12 -97%.This study was done to evaluate transmission rate of HIV from mother to child in a tertiary care hospital and evaluate role of different interventions. Methodology: In this study all babies of HIV positive mothers who were diagnosed antenatal and also babies less than 18 months of age of HIV positive mother who came to paediatric OPD were enrolled. Informed consent was taken and assurance about secrecy was given. Detailed background information, antenatal history, obstetric history, birth history, mother investigation and treatment history were recorded. Single dose nevirapin was given to all mother and baby pairs. All babies were followed up to 18 months of age. Sero diagnoses of all babies were checked at different ages with different diagnostic tests and confirmed at the end of 18 months of age with 3 rapid diagnostic tests. Result and Conclusion Mother to child transmission rate was 11.4% in this study. Single dose nevirapin to mother baby pair had 93-97% protectivity. Anti retroviral treatment was 80-83% protective in mother with low CD4 count and high viral load. Due to limitation of sources breast feeding was still adopted as acceptable feeding option. [Natl J of Med Res 2013; 3(1.000): 38-41]