Vertical transmission in pregnant women infected with human immunodeficiency virus in comprehensive care service

Abstract

Introduction: Vertical transmission (VT) of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the main cause of VT of the virus in children under 15 years of age. Vertical transmission of HIV is defined as the infectious clinical entity of passing HIV from an infected pregnant woman to her child during pregnancy, labor, or during breastfeeding. Objective: To describe the characteristics of vertical transmission in a population of pregnant women infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, from January 2019 to December 2021 at the Hospital Escuela (HE). Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study. The sample was 100% (42) of HIV-infected pregnant women who attended the Comprehensive Care Service at HE. Clinical records were reviewed and information on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the patients was recorded. The results were presented as frequencies and percentages of the variables studied. Result: 100% of the mothers were aware of the diagnosis of being HIV positive, 79% diagnosed prior to pregnancy, 100% on ARV treatment, 43% with undetectable viral load, 81% ended their pregnancy via cesarean section, 55% were categorized as high risk, 52% received ARV therapy for 4 weeks, HIV incidence was 2.4%, 1 of 42 patients. Discussion: The request for an HIV diagnostic test in prenatal control should be performed routinely, implementing elective cesarean section, omission of breastfeeding and prenatal antiretroviral treatment, at the end of pregnancy and to the newborn to reduce vertical transmission.