LACK OF INCREASED RISK FOR PERINATAL HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS TRANSMISSION TO SUBSEQUENT CHILDREN BORN TO INFECTED WOMEN

Background. Little is known about whether a woman's risk of transmitti ng HIV perinatally increases over time and whether the infection outco me of a previous child affects the risk of transmitting HIV to subsequ ent children. Methods. We analyzed data from 114 prospectively followe d women who gave birth to at least 2 children after becoming infected with HIV to determine the risk for perinatal HIV transmission to these sibling pairs. Results. The median interval between sibling births wa s 19 months, HN infection occurred in 19 (17%) older siblings and 20 ( 18%) younger siblings (P = 0.87). Two (11%) of the 19 children with in fected older siblings were infected compared with 18 (19%) of the 95 c hildren with uninfected older siblings (P = 0.86). The risk for transm ission to younger siblings was not associated with the interval betwee n deliveries of the two siblings. Conclusions. These data do not demon strate that an HIV-infected woman's risk of transmitting HN perinatall y increases with time, although the observed interpregnancy interval w as relatively short. The risk for perinatal transmission does not appe ar to be affected by the infection outcome of previous children. These findings may be useful for counseling HIV-infected women about their risk of transmitting HIV perinatally.