Irish doctors have reported an alarming rise in the number of mothers who have contracted HIV through heterosexual contact. They have warned that more unborn children will contract the virus unless preventive doctors action is taken.
The figures on the rising incidence of HIV were disclosed at a seminar in the Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, yesterday. Entitled "HIV Infection in Pregnancy", it was convened to examine strategies to reduce the high rate of HIV transmission from mother to child; 15 babies have been born to HIV-infected women this year.
The seminar was told that the number of mothers who contracted HIV through heterosexual contact has risen significantly in the past decade. In 1987-88, 74 per cent of HIV-infected mothers were IV drug users, while 26 per cent contracted HIV through heterosexual contact with no IV drug use suspected.
In 1997-98, however, the number of HIV-infected mothers who were drug users dropped to 30 per cent, while as many as 70 per cent of HIV positive mothers contracted the virus from heterosexual contact.
Dr Karina Butler, a specialist in paediatric infectious diseases at Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, called for an information campaign aimed at reducing the overall transmission of HIV. Some 20 per cent of unborn children whose mothers have HIV could contract the virus if the mother was not given suitable treatment, she said. "For pregnant mothers, in particular, routine ante-natal testing should be the norm rather than the exception. There is no excuse for mother-to-child transmission rates of higher than 2 per cent as we move into the next century."
Dr Clare Nourse, of Our Lady's Hospital, said more women were acquiring HIV through sexual contact. The message about safe sex was waning and young women and men were no longer so aware of the risks. The seminar was told that more than 130,000 people were tested by the Virus Reference Laboratory for HIV antibodies up to the end of last December, with 1,850 testing positive. Some 609 AIDS cases have been notified in Ireland, of whom 311 died.
