Estimation of the rate of mother to child transmission of H IV in Nigeria

Abstract

Definitive diagnosis of HIV infection in infants < 18 months of age who were born to HIV-infected mothers is still posing some difficulty in Nigeria and other developing countries. Within this age definitive diagnosis can only be carried out by antigen based techniques which are indeed not available in these developing countries. This has resulted in th e absence of authoritative data on the rate of mother-to-child transmission in these countries. Nigeria inclusive .The present pilot study was therefore carried out to generate some information on the rate of mother to child transmission in Nigeria using the P CR technique . Plasma samples were obtained from 6 - 8 children of both months of age and who were born to H I V infected mothers. The samples were collected from two pediatric departments, in Lagos and in Benin . The presence o f HIV1RN A i n each of the samples, was determined using the Amplicor Monitor V. 1.5 technique (Roche Diagnostics). Data showed that HIV- 1 R N A was detected in 15 of t h e 6 8 samples tested. This gave an HIV-1 R N A detection rate of 22% . Among women who had some intervention . the rate of transmission of infection w a s 1 1% while the rate among those without intervention was 30% . T h e 2 2 % transmission rate recorded in this study is close to the range o f 2 5 to 3 5 % that ha s bee n reported in several developed and a few developing countries. A multicenter nationwide study will still be needed to determine the nationa l mother to child transmission rate in Nigeria .