February 11, 2009

Mass. Doctors Combat Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in Africa

Doctors from the MetroWest region of Massachusetts are studying new ways to help prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to their children in Zimbabwe, The MetroWest Daily News reports.

According to Andrea Ciaranello, MD, an adult infectious disease doctor from Massachusetts General Hospital, 15 to 30 percent of HIV-positive mothers in Zimbabwe who are not treated and who do not breast-feed will pass the virus onto their babies. If they do breast-feed and receive no therapy, the infection rate increases to 40 percent, she added.

“With a single dose of medicine, that transmission can be down to about 10 percent, and with the combination of medicines it can be down to 1 or 2 percent,” said Kenneth Freedberg, MD, director of HIV Research Program in the Division of General Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Researchers hope a two-year $250,000 grant from Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation will bolster access to medicine and testing in the sub-Saharan African country. The grants will eventually enable treatment services to reach 70 percent of eligible women across the globe who don’t have sufficient medical access, said Laura Guay, MD, vice president of research for the foundation.

Search: MetroWest, Massachusetts, mother-to-child, Zimbabwe, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

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