AIDS in pregnancy

HIV stands for animal immunodeficiency virus. The virus is a lot of frequently anesthetized from being to being via physique fluids during sex. It can aswell be anesthetized through claret and breastmilk.
HIV can aswell be anesthetized from a mum to her babyish during abundance and birth. If you accept HIV, acceptable assay and affliction can abate this accident to a actual low akin for your baby. That's why it's important to apperceive as aboriginal as accessible whether you accept HIV.
The alone way of alive for abiding whether you accept HIV is to accept a claret test, and this is offered to all mums-to-be as allotment of accepted antenatal care.
Without a claret test, it's harder to acquaint if anyone has HIV. Some humans accept flu-like affection if they aboriginal bolt HIV, but others do not accept any affection for abounding years .
So it makes faculty to go to all of your antenatal accessories and yield up your midwife's action of claret tests. It will advice you to accept the healthiest accessible pregnancy.
AIDS stands for acquired allowed absence syndrome. AIDS develops if the allowed arrangement has been so damaged by HIV that you alpha to bolt lots of added austere infections . AIDS is sometimes alleged late-stage HIV infection.
An important ambition of HIV testing is to recognise the infection at an aboriginal stage, and to amusement it with medication to stop it advanced to AIDS. Medications plan actual well, so with aboriginal treatment, a being with HIV can reside just as continued as anyone afterwards the virus.
How could my babyish be afflicted if I accept HIV?
Ways the virus can canyon from mum to babyish include:
during pregnancy, by bridge the placenta
during birth, through acquaintance with physique fluids
during breastfeeding, via breastmilk
Specially accomplished doctors and midwives can advice you to accept a bearing that's as safe as accessible for your baby. They can aswell accord your babyish the best affliction already he is born.
Care for mums with HIV is convalescent all the time. Alone about one babyish in 100 built-in of mums adulterated with HIV will bolt the virus. So if you accept HIV, accepting assay and the appropriate affliction absolutely helps to assure your baby.
How can I adjudge whether or not to accept the HIV test?
Your midwife will apparently action you an HIV assay the aboriginal time you accommodated her at your booking visit. The all-inclusive majority, 90 per cent, of mums-to-be yield up the befalling to be tested.
However, you do not accept to yield the assay if you don't wish it. If you about-face down the assay aboriginal in your pregnancy, you'll apparently be offered it afresh afterwards on. You can aswell appeal an HIV assay at any time before, during, or afterwards your pregnancy.
It's not consistently an simple decision, though. You may be afraid about the furnishings that a absolute aftereffect could accept on your relationship, your ancestors or your acknowledged rights.
If you're not abiding what to do, it absolutely helps to allocution to anyone who understands your worries, and who can acknowledgment your questions. You can get arcane advice and abutment from organisations such as Positively UK and the Terrence Higgins Trust.
What is an HIV assay like?
The assay will be like any added accepted claret assay at your antenatal clinic. Afore you accept the test, your midwife should explain to you absolutely what the assay involves and what will appear if the aftereffect is absolute or negative. Then she will ask whether you accord to accept the test.
If you agree, your midwife will yield a babyish sample of claret from a attitude in your arm, and forward it to a class for analysis.
Ask your midwife how continued it will yield for the after-effects to appear through, and how you will be told the results.
What do my assay after-effects mean?
If your assay is negative, this apparently agency that you do not accept HIV. However, there is just a babyish adventitious that you accept the virus but your physique has not yet had time to aftermath any antibodies. So you may be offered addition assay afterwards a few added weeks.
If your assay is positive, this agency that your claret contains antibodies to HIV and you do accept the virus.
Hearing that you accept HIV is apprenticed to appear as a shock. Suddenly, there are all kinds of issues to accord with in your life. You'll aswell accept to accomplish decisions about assay that will affect both you and your babyish - there's a lot to apprentice in a abbreviate time.
If you are HIV positive, you should be referred to a aggregation that specialises in caring for abundant women with HIV. This aggregation will accept what you are traveling through and accord you support, as able-bodied as accouterment able medical care.
Many mums-to-be aswell acquisition that it absolutely helps to allocution to added mums who accept had the aforementioned experience. Your specialist midwife may be able to put you in touch, or you can acquaintance the charity, Positively UK.
What happens during abundance and birth?
If you are HIV positive, you'll be offered specialist affliction and approved check-ups during your pregnancy. You'll aswell be offered assay with medication alleged anti-retroviral drugs. These treatments can abundantly abate the adventitious of your babyish communicable the infection from you during abundance and birth.
It's never too late. Emergency assay can be started if you acquisition out backward in abundance that you are HIV positive, or if you don't see a midwife until afterwards in your pregnancy.
You'll aswell charge added abutment to advice you cope and accomplish decisions about yourself, your approaching and your baby.
Whether you accept a vaginal or a caesarean bearing will partly depend on how able-bodied your HIV infection is controlled.
If your levels of the virus are low, your doctor may acclaim a vaginal birth. If claret tests appearance you accept a top akin of the virus, a caesarean will apparently be brash to abate the accident of your babyish communicable HIV during the birth. The blazon of medication you are demography may aswell access what blazon of bearing you have.
What happens to my babyish afterwards the birth?
It's absolutely important to apperceive that your babyish will not be taken abroad from you artlessly because you are HIV positive. Instead, you should be offered lots of abutment to accumulate him advantageous and to advice you acclimatize to active with HIV.
After he is born, your babyish should alpha anti-retroviral medication bound and accept this for four weeks to six weeks.
Medical guidelines say that if a mum has HIV, her babyish should accept a assay for virus levels anon afterwards birth. The assay is afresh if your babyish is six weeks old and afresh if he is 12 weeks old. There may be added times if he needs an added test.
Every babyish whose mum has HIV is built-in with antibodies to the virus in his blood. However, these antibodies will abandon over time if a babyish does not accept HIV. Sometimes it takes up to 18 months for this to happen, so addition claret assay will be recommended for your babyish at this age .
HIV can be anesthetized on from a mum to her babyish through breastmilk so if you are HIV positive, you'll be brash to formula-feed your baby.
Where can I get added advice and support?
There is a lot of acceptable advice for humans who are afraid about HIV or who accept the virus. One acceptable antecedent is NAM.
You can aswell acquisition advice about HIV and AIDS at NHS Choices.
For advice about HIV, compassionate and arcane support, and to allocution to added humans who accept been in the aforementioned situation, you can acquaintance the Terrence Higgins Trust and Positively UK