For HIV-Positive Babies, New Evidence Favors Starting Drug Treatment Just After Birth
Doctors used to worry that antiretroviral drugs were too powerful for HIV-positive newborns. More evidence is emerging that, in fact, early treatment can be safe and effective.
Every day, as many as 500 babies in sub-Saharan Africa are born with HIV. Standard practice in many of these countries is to give them treatment if they test positive, but not for weeks or even months after they're born. The concern is that newborns can't tolerate the powerful drugs.
In the last few years, researchers have suspected that treating right at birth is better. , a virologist at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, co-wrote a paper six years ago about a with HIV who was treated 30 hours after birth.
