Breastfeeding with HIV now Safer
By Danell Swim
February 5, 2008
An antiretroviral drug already in widespread use in the developing world to prevent the transmission of HIV from infected mothers to their newborns during childbirth has also been found to substantially cut the risk of subsequent HIV transmission during breast-feeding.
The study, conducted from 2001 to 2007 and involving approximately 2,000 infants, is one of the first randomized controlled trials to show that a drug can prevent HIV transmission to uninfected babies exposed to their infected mothers’ breast milk.
This is huge for mothers who want to breastfeed but are HIV positive, and also for meeting the nutritional needs of infants. Some babies just will not thrive on formula, and donation breastmilk can be extremely hard to find. Hopefully this new treatment will allow infants to benefit from their own mother’s milk, while staying safe.
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