HIV and Pregnancy

If you’ve just become pregnant and are HIV positive or have discovered that you are HIV positive after becoming pregnant, there are two things to keep in mind: you can have a healthy pregnancy if you are HIV positive and your child can be born without HIV.

It is important for all women to get tested during for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections during your pregnancy. This is to ensure that you can take the necessary steps to prevent your child from being born positive.

You may have questions about having an abortion after testing positive during pregnancy.  Only you can decide whether or not to continue your pregnancy and abortion is legal in Canada. However, it is important to get the facts about being pregnant and HIV positive first before making a decision. Some women worry that if they have an abortion, they will be unable to carry children in the future. This is a misconception and most if not all women go on to have normal, healthy pregnancies after an abortion.

When HIV passes from an HIV positive mother to a fetus, it is called vertical transmission. Today, less than 2% of all children born to HIV positive mothers are born negative. This is very much due to advances in medication.

Experts have written treatment guidelines that outline the best practices to reduce the risk of vertical transmission which are:

• Taking anti-HIV drugs during pregnancy and during labour;
• Delivery by C-section (cesarean section) when appropriate;
• A short course on anti-HIV drugs for the baby afterbirth;
• Absolutely no breast feeding. HIV is easily spread through breast feeding;

An HIV positive mother should consult with her health care provider for proper pre-natal care.  It is never a good idea to stop or change your drugs without seeing your doctor first. Once you stop taking your medications, your viral load could suddenly increase and there will be a higher risk of infecting your fetus.

During delivery

During labour and delivery, there are things that an HIV positive mother can do to prevent vertical transmission from occurring.  For example, if you have not had treatment or your viral load is over 1000 copies, you should consider a c-section.  If your viral load is less than 1000 copies, a C-section is not likely to further reduce your risk of transmitting HIV. It is always your choice whether or not to have a C-section.

It is also recommended under Canadian guidelines that women take anti-HIV drugs like zidovudine and Retrovir during labour and delivery to reduce the risk of vertical transmission.

It’s important to remember:  there has been strong evidence that suggest there are no long-term effects on babies born to mothers taking treatment or those taking treatment after delivery.

AIDS PEI has a number of resources available that outline the information above and provide additional information that can help you manage your health during an HIV positive pregnancy. Call or write us to request these resources.

For more information on healthy pregnancies with HIV, please view the following resources:

• HIV & Pregnancy (http://www.cfsh.ca/Your_Sexual_Health/STIs-and-HIV/HIV-AIDS/HIV-and-pregnancy.aspx)