A range of tests are usually offered to a pregnant mother during the first stages of her pregnancy. This is to ensure that she and her baby are in the best of health at all times. These tests are mostly required to make the pregnancy safer and much easier, especially for first-time mothers. HIV is known as the virus that triggers AIDS and it may be passed to the baby during pregnancy.
In any case that the mother’s HIV screen test comes positive during the ante-natal testing, don’t panic. Sometimes, nonspecific reactions, increase in gamma globulins or the presence of antibodies directed to other infectious agents that may be structurally and antigenically similar to HIV can produce false positive results (reports showing positive results when actually the disease does not exist). Autoimmune diseases, such as SLE or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, have also rarely caused false positive results. Most false negative results are due to the window period. It is recommended that the women undergoes confirmatory testing by a combination of ELISA and western blot tests to be very sure about the presence of HIV.
There are several methods already in place to reduce the risks involved. After testing positive, it is important for the mother to submit herself to immediate treatment. Discuss all the essential points with your doctor and raise all the questions that you may have.
Most of the consultations carried with a doctor by an HIV positive patient are treated with strict confidentiality. But more than just testing and treatment, patients should also get adequate counseling. Be sure to seek advice from the experts in order to manage your health condition and your pregnancy better.
There’s a 25 percent chance that your baby will be infected with the same disease if you refuse or fail HIV medications. But with proper treatment, it is also possible that your baby won’t acquire the disease at all as the transmission rates can be reduced to as low as 1% with treatment. However, it can’t be denied that the risks involved for your child is very high as far as HIV and AIDs goes. Mothers have to treat cases like this with high priority. If left ignored, the baby has a 20 percent chance of developing full-blown AIDS during the first year of his life and is expected to die from it eventually.
Mothers who tested positive for HIV during the ante-natal check up will be required to have caesarean delivery. Follow up treatments and procedures have to be done on the child until he’s two years old. Breastfeeding is also discouraged among mothers with the HIV virus, but check with your doctor as recommendations vary from country to country.
Let your doctor guide you further on what to do and what not to do in these cases. If you submit yourself to regular consultations, you can almost make sure that you and your baby will come out of this ordeal victorious.