Prevalence of HIV infection in infatnts exposed to HIV and receieved single dose nevirapine or zidovudine with single dose nevirapine at Yekatit 12 Hospital, addis Ababa

Abstract

Background: Antiretroviral treatment decreases the rate of HIV transmission from mother to child significantly. Use of SD NVP has been in use since 2006 up to 2008 when the National recommendation of combination treatment with SD NVP + AZT for a week /month has started. But the effect of these interventions hadn’t been assessed in our setup.
Objectives: To determine the prevalence of HIV Infection in infants who received either SD NVP or SD NVP with AZT & to assess the morbidity & mortality of patients infected with HIV.
Methods: A medical record review of all patients seen at Yekatit 12 hospital and received either SD NVP or SD NVP with AZT has been reviewed.
Results: A total of 144 exposed infants who had received either SD NVP or SD NVP with AZT has been retrieved. The sex distribution was comparable and the mean age for DNA PCR & Antibody test at diagnosis was 3.5months & 12 months respectively. The prevalence of HIV Infection in those who took either form of prophylaxis was found to be 12.5% while the rate of HIV Infection in patients who took SD prophylaxis is 15.1% as compared to 7.8% in those who took SD NVP with AZT. From these HIV Infected patients, 88.8% had one or more opportunistic infections in the first 2 years and 16.7% were dead before the age of 2 years.
Conclusion and recommendation: Use of combination treatment, AZT with SD NVP, is more effective than SD NVP regimen alone in preventing mother to child transmission but a large scale study is needed to see the effect at large.