Perinatal Transmission of HIV
I have learnt about HIV getting transmitted from the mother to her child during pregnancy or birth but never knew about some of the facts that I just read from the CDC website. It can also be transmitted while breastfeeding because milk is a bodily fluid. Zidovudine is a drug that can be injected to pregnant women who have HIV and it greatly decreases the risk for the child to contract HIV. Although, it increases the risk for the mother to develop resistence against this drug and progress further into the diseaseThere are more chances of prevention for perinatal transmission if the testing is done early in the pregnancy. There are about upto two hundred infants that get infected with HIV every year. According to the oxfordjournal website, 600,000 babies were born with perinatal infection of HIV in 1999.
This week's question of the week brought several interesting things to my mind. It was very interesting to know what other people thought about HIV, especially the ones that do not have a background in biological/health sciences. After interviewing my dad, I was thinking about how I would have responded to these questions if I was not enrolled in this class. It has made me realize that HIV is so widely spread and second highest rate is in India, the country I come from. I did not know about that. When I told my dad and cousin about it, they were surprised because they were not expecting to hear that. That also make me question the level of education provided around this topic. People in a country like India are conservative when it come to HIV and look down to it. I was thinking that the next time I get to go home, I would like to find out and volunteer in HIV education.
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Isha, what is your research interest. Your last blog was about immigration and HIV and this time you are talking about perinatal transmission. You are to pick a topic and stay with it all semester long, giving us Did You Know tidbits from that research. Please pick a topic and stay with it.
ReplyDeleteWomen who are HIV positive and pregnant do not get injected with AZT. When that study was being done they were given AZT orally and the baby was given a liquid dose after birth. Now women stay on their drug therapy, which is usually two or three drugs or combinations of drugs.
When you cite an article you need to give that information to everyone so they can read the article in full if they desire. Just like you cite your papers for class, you must cite your blog.
Actually, the highest rate is in India. It surpassed Africa last year. Education in India is usually done in the streets with one person talking to another.
I think it would be a great idea if you were to volunteer when you go home. Then when you come back you can share that information with another class. Your father will be very shocked to hear that India is now #1 in the world.
Teach,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information.
I think that it is such an amazing thing that we can just about prevent HIV from being transmitted to an infant from an infected mother. I feel that it is one of the worst ways possible that a human can contract the virus and in the grand scheme of things, 200 seems like a very low number. As conservative as you may perceive India to be, I have watched a couple documentaries on the slums that are in India (Not Slumdog Millionaire) and there are some very bad places including a red light district. I could just be basing my opinion off of the focused information that I watched..but it seems that it wasn't from just one selected area in India.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to hear that HIV is not much talked about in India because of how conservative it is. I understand their conservative behavior has much to do with religion and I respect that to no end. In this situation though, their conservative views are hurting them more than helping them. It may be uncomfortable to talk about safe sex for people in India but it is just one way they could help the population out. It is unfortunate that HIV is looked down upon but I think it is in America to some extent too. I admire you for wanting to volunteer in HIV education. Imagine the difference you could make just by spreading information to a few people.
ReplyDeleteDid you read about the India post on the discussion board? I was shocked when I read it and learned that married women in India have a greater risk of contracting HIV than prostitutes! This shows the state of mind of the men in India. I know that if you do get a chance to go home to India and volunteer you will have a tremendous impact on the country. The perinatal care that you talked about reminds me of another article that was posted on the discussion board. It is possible for HIV positive women to have a healthy baby. As long as these women are medicated and practice safe habits with their baby.I'm pretty sure that the 600,000 baby total can be reduced if more women get tested and prepare for their pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post it made me think of the blog we did last week. I did the blog about outside organiztions on UNICEF. It was interesting because one of the goals is to stop the spread of HIV from mother to child. One other was to help reduce transmission is by giving the mother a Caesarean section for birth. Just thought you would like this information.
ReplyDeleteI wonder sometimes because when I speak to other people about women with HIV having children most say that she's wrong for doing that for even putting her baby at risk of having that disease. I just wonder that at any time would the government actually step in and tell a woman when she can't try and have a baby. That's what some of the people I know say.
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