Faculty Opinions recommendation of Neonatal mortality in HIV-exposed infants born to women receiving combination antiretroviral therapy in Rural Uganda.

HIV-1 and CMV are important pathogens transmitted via breastfeeding. Furthermore, perinatal CMV transmission may impact growth and disease progression in HIV-exposed infants. Although maternal antiretroviral therapy reduces milk HIV-1 RNA load and postnatal transmission, its impact on milk CMV load is unclear. We examined the relationship between milk CMV and HIV-1 load (4–6 weeks postpartum) and the impact of antiretroviral treatment in 69 HIV-infected, lactating Malawian women and assessed the relationship between milk CMV load and postnatal growth in HIV-exposed, breastfed infants through six months of age. Despite an association between milk HIV-1 RNA and CMV DNA load (0.39 log10rise CMV load per log10rise HIV-1 RNA load, 95% CI 0.13–0.66), milk CMV load was similar in antiretroviral-treated and untreated women. Higher milk CMV load was associated with lower length-for-age (−0.53, 95% CI: −0.96, −0.10) and weight-for-age (−0.40, 95% CI: −0.67, −0.13)Z-score at six months in exposed, uninfected infants. As the impact of maternal antiretroviral therapy on the magnitude of postnatal CMV exposure may be limited, our findings of an inverse relationship between infant growth and milk CMV load highlight the importance of defining the role of perinatal CMV exposure on growth faltering of HIV-exposed infants.

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Impact of a Maternal Prevention of Mother-to-child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) Intervention on HIV-exposed Infants in Uganda

International Journal of MCH and AIDS (IJMA) ◽

10.21106/ijma.380 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (3) ◽

pp. 320-329

Author(s):

Anays Murillo ◽

Mary Bachman DeSilva ◽

Lora L. Sabin ◽

Nafisa Halim ◽

Harriet Chemusto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Antiretroviral Therapy ◽

Global Health ◽

Early Infant Diagnosis ◽

Mother To Child Transmission ◽

Child Transmission ◽

Hiv Exposed Infants ◽

Early Infant ◽

Hiv Test ◽

Hiv Exposed ◽

Mother To Child

Background: Uganda has successfully reduced pediatric HIV infections through prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programs, yet little is known about adherence to infant-specific components of interventions. We hypothesized that infants born to mothers receiving the WiseMama (WM) electronic drug monitoring (EDM)-based adherence intervention would have increased uptake of six-week post-natal nevirapine (NVP) infant prophylaxis and better adherence to six-week early infant diagnosis (EID) HIV testing. Methods: At two sites in Uganda, the Wise Infant Study (WIN) prospectively followed an infant cohort. Infants were born to women enrolled in an RCT testing the effect of real-time reminders delivered via EDM on maternal adherence to antiretroviral therapy. We assessed intrapartum and discharge receipt of NVP prophylaxis using pharmacy and infant HIV DNA testing laboratory data. Results: Of 121 women eligible for WIN, 97 (80%) consented and enrolled; 46 had been randomized to control and 51 to intervention. There were no differences in receipt of a six-week NVP supply (control 87%, intervention 82%, p = 0.53). Receipt of any NVP prophylaxis did not vary by delivery location (p = 0.35), and although 12% of infants were delivered at non-study health facilities, they were not less likely to receive NVP at discharge (p = 0.37). Among infants with a completed HIV test, there was no difference in mean time to first test (control 52 days (SD 18), intervention 51 days (SD 15), p = 0.86). Only one infant, in the control group, tested positive for HIV. Conclusion and Global Health Implications: We found no significant differences in adherence to infant PMTCT practices between intervention and control infants with relatively high rates of NVP receipt albeit with suboptimal adherence to six-week EID testing. Further work is needed to ensure improved access, uptake, and follow-up of HIV-exposed infants in the Option B+ era. Key words: • Prevention of maternal to child transmission of HIV • HIV • Nevirapine • Antiretroviral therapy prophylaxis • Early infant diagnosis • HIV-exposed infants Copyright © 2020 Murillo et al. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in this journal, is properly cited.

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Epidemiology of HIV Infection Among HIV-Exposed Infants, Nairobi County, Kenya, 2015

Infectious Diseases Research and Treatment ◽

10.1177/1178633720948863 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

pp. 117863372094886

Author(s):

Anthony B Kiplagat ◽

Carol Ngunu ◽

Elvis Oyugi ◽

James Ransom

Keyword(s):

Antiretroviral Therapy ◽

Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy ◽

Turnaround Time ◽

Hiv Positive ◽

Mother To Child Transmission ◽

Child Transmission ◽

Public Health Action ◽

Hiv Exposed Infants ◽

Hiv Exposed ◽

Mother To Child

Objective: To characterize human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive infants among HIV-exposed infants (HEIs) in Nairobi County for public health action. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of records of HEIs’ HIV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results in Nairobi County in 2015, excluding confirmatory PCR-positive results. HIV-exposed infant registry data were entered into Microsoft Excel and descriptive and associative statistics were calculated with OpenEpi software. Results: A total of 5802 HEI records were analyzed, with a median age of 4.5 (interquartile range, 8.5) months; 342 (5.9%) tested positive, 51% were female, and 4420 (76.2%) were seen at maternal and child health clinics. Standard highly active antiretroviral therapy intervention was given to 184 (60.3%) of the mothers of exposed infants, and 178 (53%) of the HIV-positive infants received active antiretroviral therapy. A total of 3464 (59.7%) HEIs had PCR done within the first 2 months, and 119 (3.4%) tested positive. The average turnaround time for PCR samples was 28 ± 22 days, and a total of 191 (3.3%) HIV-positive HEIs were exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life. Conclusion: The recorded mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) rate of 5.9% in Nairobi County is lower than the 2015 national rate, which suggests the Nairobi prevention of mother-to-child transmission efforts are moderately effective. However, results from this study show that Kenya will struggle to meet the MTCT 2020 target rate of <5%.

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