Int Conf AIDS 1994 Aug 7-12; 10:50 (abstract no. PS11) Blanche S; Hopital Necker, Paris, France.
No doubt the main event this year in the field of pediatric HIV infection is the large reduction in the risk of mother-child transmission by zidovudine therapy during the pregnancy, at delivery and in the neonatal period (US-French protocol ACTG 076--ANRS 024). The principal question raised by this protocol and unfortunately the most difficult--is whether this approach can be applied to highly endemic areas given its prohibitive cost. Other preventive approaches, such as passive immunotherapy, are being assessed. Our knowledge of pediatric HIV infection has improved. We now know that, with the exception of a few infants who develop profound immunodeficiency and encephalitis within a few months of birth, the incubation period is similar to that in adults, exceeding a decade in some cases. All the knowns and unknowns that have accumulated in the field of adult antiretroviral therapy can be extrapolated to children. The psychological and social background must be taken into account when counselling the family, given the risk of separation due to progression of the mother's HIV disease.
Keywords: AEGIS, Zidovudine, HIV Infections, Anti-HIV Agents, Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors, United States, Adult, Child, Human, Infant, Female, Pregnancy, transmission, ICA10 940807
PS11
