Baby girls are more likely to acquire HIV from their mothers during pregnancy or childbirth than infant boys, a new study published by Nature Medicine has revealed. The baby boys, the research noted, are more likely to achieve cure or remission. SciDev, a news platform that focuses on science and technology, in an analysis of the study published on its website, noted that it spotlights gender differences in immune systems.
Citing data from the World Health Organisation (WHO), SciDev noted that it is estimated that 1.3 million women and girls living with HIV become pregnant each year and the rate of mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding ranges from 15 to 45 per cent. The researchers in the study evaluated 284 infants in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, one of the world’s highest HIV-prevalent areas, who received combination anti-retroviral therapy (cART) from birth, following exposure to HIV during pregnancy.
“We found that HIV transmission to male foetuses was 50 per cent less common than to females,” the Lead researcher, Philip Goulder, a professor of immunology at the University of Oxford told SciDev. “Affected males had lower levels of the virus in the blood and to date, in this study, four male infants have been identified who have achieved HIV cure/remission – ie maintained undetectable levels of HIV in the blood even without therapy,” PREMIUM TIMES delivers fact-based journalism for Nigerians, by Nigerians — and our c.
