The European Collaborative Study: clinical and immunological characteristics of HIV 1‐infected pregnant women

Abstract

diagnosis of HIV-infected pregnant women enrolled in the European Collaborative Study. Study on children born to HIV-infected women. Objective To describe the changing clinical and immunological characteristics and timing of Design A prospective study of the mothers of children enrolled in the European CollaborativeSetting Twenty-one European centres in seven countries.Subjects One thousand six hundred and ninety HIV-infected women and their 1754 deliveries. ResultsThe proportion of women in whom HIV infection had been diagnosed before pregnancy increased significantly over time, from 7 % in 1984-1985 to 65% in 1994 (P c 0.001). The prevalence of breastfeeding, which was related to the timing of diagnosis, significantly declined over the study period. The mean CD4 count was 510 cells/mm3, and there was a significant decline in average CD4 count over the study period. Black women had a significantly lower CD4 count than white women. From survival analysis it is estimated that five years after delivery 14% of women will have died and 24% will have developed CDC stage IV disease.

Blood splashes to the masks and goggles during caesarean section

“…Masks and goggles may not have a role in preventing wound infection but they are useful in preventing blood splashes reaching the eyes and mucous membranes of the surgeon and assistants. The prevalence of HIV during pregnancy varies in different countries from 1.52 to 5.56 per 1000 in Europe 2 to up to 1 in 40 women in sub Saharan Africa 3 . Banatvale et al .…”

Neurological characteristics of HIV‐infected men and women seeking primary medical care

“…Thus, medical knowledge regarding the natural history of HIV infection in women is several years behind that available on HIV-infected men. Most research conducted on women has focused on selected groups, such as intravenous-drug users (IVDUs) and pregnant women (Marder et al, 1995), or was a secondary measure in the study of the pediatric consequences of the infection (Thorne et al, 1995). Nevertheless, significant advances have been made in recent years, and researchers have been reporting data relative to female-male differences in the clinical manifestations of the disease.…”

Effect of Pregnancy and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection on Intracellular Interleukin-2 Production Patterns

“…Within the United States, a national prevalence of 1.7 per 1,000 live births has been reported, with even higher rates among women with no prenatal care (11). Advanced immune suppression has been observed among some pregnant women, requiring initiation of antiretroviral therapy to avert maternal morbidity and mortality or to decrease the risk of perinatal HIV transmission (9,24,29,30 There is not yet a full understanding of IL-2 production and its' role during pregnancy and postpartum. However, some studies of IL-2 production in normal human pregnancies suggest a decrease in IL-2 expression and Th1 cytotoxic responses and a concurrent increase in Th2 cytokine responses.…”