Malaria cited in child HIV cases
By Kakaire A. Kirunda
Nov 10, 2003
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MBALE - Women with malaria are more likely to pass on HIV, the virus that causes Aids, to their unborn children, a new study shows. Ugandan scientists and their counterparts from Johns Hopkins University in the United States did the research on 741 HIV-positive women in Rakai between 1994 and 1999. According to the research, placental malaria infection during pregnancy significantly increases the risk of mother-to-child transmission of the virus. "[The] study of HIV-positive women living in Rakai, found that the mother-to-child HIV transmission rates were 40 percent among women with placental malaria compared to 15.4 percent of women without malaria," a statement from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, released on November 5, says. The study is published in the November 2003 issue of the scientific journal, Aids. Malaria parasites were measured in the mothers' placenta and were found to be more common in HIV-positive women. The study also found out that women with both malaria/HIV had a higher risk of developing anaemia, having miscarriages, low birth weight babies and premature delivery. The researchers, therefore, say that interventions to prevent malaria during pregnancy could potentially reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV. "These findings could have potential public health relevance because interventions to prevent placental malaria during pregnancy might reduce the risk of HIV transmission from mother to child and this could augment current approaches using antiretroviral drugs," the statement says. "Randomised trials of intensive malaria control in HIV-positive women are urgently needed," said Dr Heena Brahmbhatt, a leading author of the study from Johns Hopkins. Brahmbhatt did the research jointly with compatriots Maria Wawer, Carlos The research study is titled, The Effects of Placental Malaria on Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission in Rakai, Uganda. The Ugandan medics involved in the research are Godfrey Kigozi, Fred Wabwire-Mangeni, David Serwadda, Nelson Sewankambo and Tom Lutalo. The Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute funded the five-year study. |
� 2003 The Monitor Publications
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