AIDS and Pregnancy

If you have AIDS and find out you are pregnant or think you may be pregnant, you should let your health care provider know as soon as possible. Some AIDS medicinesmay harm your baby. Your health care provider may want you to take different medicines or change the doses.

It is also possible to give HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, to your baby. This is most likely to happen around the time you give birth. For this reason, treatment during this time is very important for protecting your baby from infection. Several treatments can help the virus from spreading from you to your baby. Your health care provider can recommend the best one for you.

Your baby will also need to have treatment for at least the first six weeks of life. Regular testing will be needed to find out if your baby is infected.

More details click source.

source: Medline Plus

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AIDS - Also called: Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, HIV, Human immunodeficiency virus

AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. It is the most advanced stages of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV is a virus that kills or damages cells of the body's immune system.

HIV most often spreads through unprotected sex with an infected person. AIDS may also spread by sharing drug needles or through contact with the blood of an infected person. Women can give it to their babies during pregnancy or childbirth.

The first signs of HIV infection may be swollen glands and flu-like symptoms. These may come and go a month or two after infection. Severe symptoms may not appear until months or years later.

A blood test can tell if you have HIV infection. Your health care provider can perform the test, or call the national referral hotline at 1-800-CDC-INFO (24 hours a day, 1-800-232-4636 in English and en español; 1-888-232-6348 - TTY).

There is no cure, but there are many medicines to fight both HIV infection and the infections and cancers that come with it. People can live with the disease for many years.

source:Medline Plus

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