According to 2010 information from the international AIDS charity, Avert, over 2 million children have AIDS worldwide, and 90 percent of these contracted HIV in infancy from an HIV positive mother. Many other babies born with the disease die in infancy, with approximately 1 in 3 HIV-infected infants dying before their first birthday.
Transmission
HIV, the virus causing AIDS, infects infants in a few different ways. A pregnant woman who is HIV-positive can pass along the disease through the placenta to the unborn fetus before birth. A more common method of transmission is during birth itself, when the baby comes in contact with HIV-infected blood or bodily secretions of the mother. More rarely, mother-to-infant transmission occurs during breastfeeding when the breast milk itself contains the virus.
Symptoms
Babies with AIDS may exhibit different symptoms than adult sufferers of the disease. Infected infants often exhibit a failure to thrive, a condition of slow growth and delayed physical and mental development, according to the March of Dimes. Their lymph nodes may be swollen, and they may experience bouts of diarrhea, pneumonia and oral thrush. The abdomen of an infected baby may swell as a result of swollen organs such as the spleen or liver.
Testing
Even babies who don't catch HIV from an infected mother can carry her antibodies against the disease, making testing and diagnosis difficult. Most of the time, doctors will wait until the baby is at least three months old before testing for HIV, since testing before that point is likely to be inconclusive. Infants who do test positive for the disease are typically retested a few months later to confirm the diagnosis. Newborns who are at risk for mother-to-infant transmission of HIV are typically given antiretroviral treatment just in case they do have the disease.
Treatment
Babies with HIV and AIDS need to receive treatment as soon as possible in order to prevent rapid development of the disease that could quickly lead to death. Another important aspect of AIDS treatment in infants is the avoidance of other diseases, such as measles, flu or chicken pox, which may affect AIDS infants more strongly because of their compromised immune systems.
Prevention/Solution
When a pregnant woman with HIV is treated for her disease with antiretroviral drugs during the third trimester, transmission rates drop significantly. During and immediately after the birth itself, both mother and baby can receive antiretroviral treatment, which also can lower the risk of transmission. While many experts advise against HIV-positive mothers breastfeeding their babies to avoid transmission, a study published in the "New England Journal of Medicine" on June 17, 2010 reported a 99 percent success at preventing the disease when the breastfeeding mother took antiretroviral drugs throughout the duration of breastfeeding.
