A prospective study of mother-to-infant HIV transmission in tribal women from India.

The transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 from infected mothers to their babies was assessed by serologic, virologic, and clinical means. Of the 160 antibody-positive women enrolled at the beginning of the study, 13 had overt clinical symptoms (CDC stage III/IV). Termination of pregnancy was done, on request, in seven of these cases. The rest delivered prematurely. A total of 143 parturient women and their infants were followed prospectively until the babies were 18 months of age. Fifteen infants (9%) died of AIDS before 14 months of age. The remaining 128 children (91%) were alive at the end of the study period. Seventy-four seropositive children (46%) became seronegative and were considered noninfected. None of the seronegative children reverted to seropositive status despite the fact that they were breast-fed. The majority of the seropositive children (63%) became symptomatic and clinically ill during infancy. The overall mother-to-infant vertical transmission rate was 48%.