title: Human immunodeficiency virus and pregnancy.
abstract: The recent spread of HIV infection into the heterosexual population in the United States, Europe, and Australia, as well as its earlier heterosexual presence in the developing world, has led to increased scientific and clinical attention to the role of HIV infection in pregnancy. In managing a pregnant HIV-positive woman, it is most important to treat the patient as someone who is HIV-positive rather than someone who is pregnant. Withholding antiviral or prophylactic therapies from the mother for fear of harming the child is not justified, because failure to treat the mother increases the fetal risk. The most important parameter to follow is the maternal plasma HIV-RNA level, and the most important treatment issue is to reduce this level because it is directly related to the risk of vertical transmission.
authors.affiliation: Gastrointestinal Division, Department of Medicine, 1301 St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, 1111 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10025, USA. dlcotler@slrhc.org
authors.forename: Donald P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Kotler
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006678:HIV / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000517:prevention & control; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; D019562:Viral Load
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents