A positive woman gives birth to HIV-negative child

Kolkata, July 26 (UNI) An HIV-affected woman gave birth to a HIV-negative child in the city after she underwent treatment for prevention of mother-to-child HIV infection in West Bengal.

A collaborative project of National AIDS Control Society (NACO) and state health department -- the Prevention of Parent To Child Transmission of HIV (PPTCT) -- which started in the state in 2004, got its first success story in the state only recently.

The 21-year-old woman from South 24 Parganas, a district town of the state, first visited Nilratan Sarkar Medical College Hospital during her pregnancy in 2004 and was diagnosed as HIV-positive. She was counselled and admitted to the hospital on July 10 where she gave birth to a girl child.

Both mother and child were administered Nevirapine dose four hours before birth and post-birth.

''The treatment yield results only after 18 months, when the baby takes the final HIV tests. Hospital closely monitors the mother and the baby and both are generally asked to visit the hospital regularly,'' Director of West Bengal State HIV AIDS Prevention and Control Society (WBSAPCS) Dr R S Shukla told UNI today.

Unfortunately, the woman stopped coming to the hospital after one month. But sheer co-incidence brought her back to the same hospital with one of her relatives, hospital counsellor said.

The baby then underwent an HIV rapid test and was diagnosed healthy and HIV negative, Mr Shukla added.

''This is the first baby born in the state who is HIV-negative and healthy. It was difficult to trace the mother-child duo for two years but we did it,'' he said.

This project had started in ten medical colleges in the state and would be starting in district hospital PPTCT centres soon, Dr Shukla added.

UNI JYN SJC VA DB1134