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  • Title: Vancouver AIDS conference: special report. Three African countries to take part in trials to reduce mother-to-child transmission.
    Author: Whiteside A, Winsbury R.
    Journal: AIDS Anal Afr; 1996; 6(4):6. PubMed ID: 12347383.
    Abstract:
    UNAIDS has announced that 1900 HIV-positive women in five sites in South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda are to take part in a clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of three regimens for the prevention of mother-to-child (MTC) transmission of HIV in a population where breast-feeding is the norm. The regimens will use zidovudine in combination with 3TC, compared to a placebo. Some 3 million children are estimated to have been infected via MTC since the HIV epidemic started, and of these, 85% are in sub-Saharan Africa. HIV/AIDS prevalence among children in developing countries is about 35 times higher than in the industrialized world. A trial conducted in the US and France using zidovudine showed a 67% reduction in the risk of MTC transmission. But UNAIDS warns that the cost of this treatment, at about $1500 per mother-child pair, makes it impractical for widespread use in developing countries, where mothers tend to wait more than 30 weeks after birth for their first visit to a clinic, too late for the treatment to start. Breast feeding is another issue. For many mothers, the risk of their infant dying if not breast fed is greater than the risk of transmitting HIV by breast feeding. So the trial will try to ensure that any gains from early drug treatment are not simply lost again through losses due to breast feeding.
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