[Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in a child of Swiss origin whose mother died from AIDS].

Report of a now 2 8/12-year-old girl, who presented at the age of 8 months with chronic progressive pneumonia, mucocutaneous candidiasis, diarrhea, failure to thrive and a non-progressive paraplegia. The child's mother presented AIDS with pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and progressive general paralysis one year after the beginning of the child's disease and died within a few months. Additional findings in the child include lymphopenia, hyperimmunoglobulinemia, cutaneous anergy and an abnormal T helper/T suppressor cell ratio. HTLV-III antibodies were positive (ELISA and Western blot virus strip RIA). Prophylactic treatment with Co-trimoxazole relieved pulmonary infections but failure to thrive remained unchanged in spite of a continuous nutritional support. A vertical mode of transmission of AIDS from mother to child seems very probable.