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| |  DG DISPATCH - AIDS 2000: Zidovudine Or Nevirapine Protect Newborns From HIV Transmission From Mother By Ed Susman Special to DG News
DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA -- July 12, 2000 -- New studies confirm that antiretroviral drugs that are used to prevent vertical transmission of HIV from mother to child can successfully protect the newborn-but the advantage can be wiped out by infection from breast feeding. The short-course treatments with the drugs zidovudine or nevirapine -- particularly used in developing countries where extended medication is too costly -- reduces the rate of mother-to-child-transmission by more than 40 percent, said Dr. Stefan Wiktor, associate director for science at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) global anti-AIDS initiative. At the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, Dr. Wiktor reported results of two trials of the drug AZT in pregnant women in the West African nations of Cote d’Ivoire and Burkino Faso. Working in cooperation with the National French AIDS Research Agency, the researchers treated the HIV-infected mothers of 641 children. Placebo pills were given to 322 children, while the other 319 received AZT, the oldest of the medications used to treat AIDS. After six weeks, Dr. Wiktor said, 14 percent of the children on AZT were infected with HIV -- the virus that causes AIDS -- while 23.6 percent of the children who received the dummy pills were infected. However, after two years about 8 percent of the children who received AZT became infected, most likely through breast milk from their infected mothers. A similar number of the children who were on placebo also became infected, again through breast milk. "The drugs work," Dr. Wiktor said, "but there is a problem in keeping the children free of infection because often there is no acceptable alternative to breast milk for nutrition." One of the key problems is that formula has to be mixed with water, and most water sources are contaminated, researchers said. In another study, researchers reported that the anti-AIDS drug nevirapine appears to be as effective as AZT in limiting transmission of the virus from the mother to her baby. Dr. Wiktor said that study again proves that the drugs are effective in preventing transmission of the virus. Researchers said that in the developing world more than 200 babies a day are born infected with the virus.
Related Links: Viramune (nevirapine) and AZT (zidovudine).
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