HIV/AIDS and Pregnancy

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Prevention and Risk Factors

Learn More

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See, Play and Learn

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Research

• Statistics and Research
• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Reference Desk
• Find an Expert

For You

• Patient Handouts

Summary

If you are pregnant and have HIV/AIDS,there is a risk of passing HIV to your baby. It can happen in three ways:

• During pregnancy
• During childbirth, especially if it is vaginal childbirth. In some cases, your doctor may suggest doing a Cesarean section to lower the risk during childbirth.
• During breastfeeding

You can greatly lower that risk by taking HIV/AIDS medicines. These medicines will also help protect your health. Since some medicines are not safe for babies, it is important to talk with your health care provider about which ones you should take. Then you need to make sure you take your medicines regularly.

Your baby will get HIV/AIDS medicines for 4 to 6 weeks after birth. The medicines protect your baby from infection from any HIV that passed from you during childbirth. Your baby will get several tests to check for HIV over the first few months.

Some pregnant women with HIV/AIDS may not know that they have it. So it is important that all women who are pregnant or planning to get pregnant have an HIV test as early as possible. Because most pregnant women with HIV/AIDS and their babies take HIV/AIDS medicines, few babies in the United States get HIV.

Start Here

• HIV and Pregnancy (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) Also in Spanish
• Pregnancy and Childbirth (AIDS.gov)
• Pregnancy and HIV (New Mexico AIDS Education and Training Center) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (AIDSinfo) Also in Spanish

Statistics and Research

• HIV among Pregnant Women, Infants, and Children (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: HIV/AIDS and Pregnancy (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Mid-arm muscle area and anthropometry predict low birth weight and poor...
• Article: HIV Exposure and Formula Feeding Predict Under-2 Mortality in HIV-Uninfected Children,...
• Article: Pre- and post-natal macronutrient supplementation for HIV-positive women in Tanzania: Effects...
• HIV/AIDS and Pregnancy -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• AIDSinfo Glossary (AIDSinfo) Also in Spanish

Find an Expert

• AIDSinfo (Department of Health and Human Services) Also in Spanish
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish
• HIV.gov (AIDS.gov)
• NIAID Division of AIDS (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)

Patient Handouts

• HIV/AIDS - pregnancy and infants (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish