ST Poon, CH Li, NS Kwong, ACW Lee

Abstract

Five infants were born to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected women from 2002 to 2006 in a regional hospital in Hong Kong. Four of the 5 women were residents in Mainland China. Among them, three women had no antenatal care and their first presentation to the local healthcare system was advanced labour at the Accident and Emergency Department. As a result, antenatal and intrapartum antiretroviral chemoprophylaxis was not given and postnatal chemoprophylaxis in the newborn was delayed. Three infants, including the two whose mothers' infection was diagnosed antenatally, were free of HIV infection. One child was eventually infected with HIV while the other child did not return for follow-up. Thus, the report suggests that the majority of infants at risk for perinatal HIV transmission are born by non-resident women, whose unique health-seeking behaviour undermines the efficacy of peripartum management to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.