MATERNAL PERINATAL HIV-I TRANSMISSION

Human immunodeficiency virus, which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome can be transmitted vertically from mother to child and is associated with high morbidity and mortality in infants and children. A case of a mother transmitting the virus in-utero to the fetus is presented. The woman had a preterm emergency lower segment cesarean delivery and was transfused with 500 ml of HIV screened blood intraoperatively and another 3.5 l while in hospitaL The child, early in life presented with features suggestive of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. This prompted us to investigate the child and the parents for HIV infection. The mother tested positive to HIV I and II, the child to HIV I, while the father tested negative by ELISA and Western blot methods. This is the only recorded case of infant HIV infection since the inception of this hospital in 1986 with 7504 total deliveries, even though we believe the incidence would definitely be higher, if all the infants delivered here were screened for HIV infection.