happen? Can it be prevented?
It really depends on a number of factors but in general, if there is no medical intervention, somewhere between 20% and 30% of babies born to a mother with untreated HIV-infection will be infected. So, chances are that a mother will not infect her baby, but chances of 1 in 4 are not particularly good odds when dealing with a deadly infection.
In order to improve the odds, we have to know where infection occurs in gestation and birth. While some transmission can occur while the fetus is in the womb, most infections occur when the infant contacts the infected blood of the mother during delivery. This was important to know.
The first strategy to prevent infection of the baby was to avoid delivery through the birth canal by having a Caesarian delivery. While this may have been an option in the US and Europe, it was definitely not an option in developing countries. So what now?
The next big advanced occurred more than 30 years ago. Zidovudine (AZT) was the first drug approved for use in treating HIV. By itself, it is one of the weakest HIV medicines and has a