LONDON: AIDS drugs given to babies soon after birth can protect them from being infected with HIV by their mothers, researchers said on Friday.
Doctors at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland found that giving two drugs, nevirapine and AZT, to babies of HIV-positive mothers after birth was 36 per cent effective in blocking transmission of the virus.
“In this study, we’ve shown that exposure after birth to prophylaxis with nevirapine and AZT can reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV,” said Dr Taha El Tahir Taha who headed the research team.
Treatment is usually given to women during pregnancy and to the infants after the birth to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus.
Nevirapine, which is made by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals and zidovudine, which is produced by drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline under the brand name AZT, have been shown to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV in breastfeeding women in Africa.
Taha and his colleagues compared the effects of nevirapine alone, and in combination with zidovudine on 1,119 babies of HIV-positive women in Malawi. All the women had arrived at the medical facility shortly before giving birth.
The babies were tested for HIV at birth and several weeks later. Seven per cent of babies who had not been infected at birth and were given combination therapy were HIV positive when they were tested again at six-eight weeks old, compared to 12.1 per cent who had been given only nevirapine.
Taha said giving the drug combination is easy and offers a way of preventing transmission of the virus to babies of women who missed the opportunity to be tested and counselled before or during pregnancy.—Reuters
