Results of a of a multi-centric trial done by researchers in India and US are enthusiastically awaiting that focuses on how an HIV- infected mother can prevent the virus from being passed on to her newborn. This ambitious trial that got under way at Pune’s B J Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital in 2002 has been completed. The results are crucial as they will pinpoint on how to lower the rate of HIV infection to infants who were exposed to breast milk.
Treatment options include a one-month course of zidovudine (AZT) during the last weeks of pregnancy or a single dose of nevirapine during delivery followed by a single dose to the infant within 72 hours of birth.
The principle investigator of the trial, Dr. M.A Phadke, who is also the Vice- Chancellor of the University of Health Sciences, Nashik, said the results will be declared shortly.