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.

從 2002 至 2006 年，香港一區域醫院共有 5 個嬰兒是由感染人類免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）母親分娩。其中， 4 個母親來自中國大陸。4 個母親中的 3 個沒有產前保健，初次出現是分娩前就診於區域健康保健系統的事故及急診部門。因而，產前及產時抗逆轉錄病毒的化學預防療法沒有給予，產後化學預防療法亦延遲。三個嬰兒，包括其中兩個他們的母親產前已經診斷患 HIV 的嬰兒，未受 HIV 感染。一個孩子最終感染了 HIV，雖然其他孩子沒有返回繼續隨訪。本文發現大多數圍產期傳染 HIV 風險的孩子是由非本港居住婦女分娩，她們獨特的尋醫方式削弱了分娩前後防止母嬰 HIV 傳播處理的功效。