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From:	Gabriel ADEYEMO [ profile ]
Subject:	Pregnancy doubled risk of female-to-male HIV transmission in Partnersin Prevention study
Sent:	Aug 7th, 2011 - 12:43:41

	Author: Carole Leach-Lemens Published: 05 August 2011 Link: http://www.aidsmap.com/Pregnancy-doubled-risk-of-female-to-male-HIV-transmission-in-Partners-in-Prevention-study/page/2033107/ Dear GYCAers Pregnancy increased the risks of female-to-male HIV transmission two-fold among over 3300 serodiscordant couples from seven African countries Nelly R Mugo and colleagues reported in a prospective study published in the advance online edition of AIDS. The risks of becoming infected with HIV during pregnancy increased at the same rate. However, this was partly explained by other factors including unprotected sex. Women now account for 60% of HIV infections in adults in sub-Saharan Africa. Many African countries with high HIV prevalence also have high fertility rates and often women are pregnant for a considerable part of their adult lives. Pregnancy brings biological and behavioural changes that may make a woman more susceptible to getting HIV as well as making her more infectious, so increasing the risks of transmission. To date limited prospective studies have found inconsistent results, showing both an increased risk and no elevated risk of acquiring HIV during pregnancy. However, evidence shows that women infected during their pregnancy have a high rate of HIV transmission to their infants. From November 2004 to April 2007 3408 HIV serodiscordant couples from Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia were enrolled in the Partners in Prevention HSV-2/HIV transmission study, a randomised, placebo-controlled, clinical trial of aciclovir as herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2) suppressive therapy for the prevention of HIV transmission. Aciclovir did not decrease HIV transmission risk within the couples. Of the 3321 couples in the analysis about a third (1085) included an HIV-infected male partner and the remaining two-thirds (2236) included an HIV-infected female partner. This is an interesting article and you can click on the link above to read full story. -- Many Thanks Yours' in Prevention Science Gabriel, ADEYEMO Regional Focal Point - West Africa Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AID (GYCA) +234-80-6798-7317 \| gabriel (at) gyca.org www.gyca.org \| www.tigweb.org GYCA is a youth-led global network of more than 5,500 young leaders and adult allies working on youth and HIV/AIDS in over 173 countries world-wide. GYCA's mission is to empower young leaders with the skills, knowledge, resources and opportunities they need to scale up HIV/AIDS interventions amongst their peers. Universal Access is possible; * Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination and Zero AIDS-related deaths.*

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