Volume 30, Issue 2, 2021
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.4034
Transmission of HIV-1 infection in newborns to mothers living with HIV in Guangdong, China
Abstract
Background: This study aimed to survey the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in newborns to mothers living with HIV (MLWH) using DNA-based assay.
Methods: Blood samples from newborns to MLWH in five cities of Guangdong Province, China, were collected and analyzed for presence of HIV-1 virus from 2014 to 2019 using polymerase chain reaction. Sampling to report time and the incidence of HIV was calculated.
Results: A total of 672 children were enrolled in this study. The overall HIV transmission rate was 1.9% by HIV-DNA detection, which varied between 1.6% and 2.3% over the six years monitored. There was no significant difference in the transmission rate between the cities and years the transmission rate, although the rats trended to decline during the period. The average diagnosis age was 31. 1 days. Void specimens accounted for 1.9% (15 /770) of total samples. The average report time was 14.2 days. For more than 85% of the children, one round of sampling was enough to diagnosis the disease.
Conclusions: Our works shows that the HIV transmission rate is about 2% in the region with slight variation over the survey period. Early diagnosis of HIV infection would help reduce infant mortality and morbidity. However, larger scale and extended survey is needed to gain better understanding of epidemiology of the disease.
Keywords
HIV; early diagnosis; epidemiology; newborns; infants; mother to child transmission