July 2009
The Breastfeeding, Antiretroviral, and Nutrition (BAN) study investigated the efficacy of giving either maternal HAART or daily nevirapine to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV during 24 weeks of exclusive breastfeeding and a four-week weaning period. A control arm received short-course therapy plus nutritional supplementation. Both interventions yielded statistically significant reductions in HIV infection rates and increased HIV-free survival. Among infants uninfected at birth, 28-week infection rates were 1.8% in the infant nevirapine arm, 3% in the maternal HAART arm, and 6.4% in the control arm. Rates of infection or death in those arms were 2.9%, 4.7%, and 7.6%, respectively. The study was not powered to compare the efficacy of the two intervention arms but demonstrated that both infant and maternal interventions can be effective for reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV from breast milk. These findings are similar to those from the previously published Mitra and Mitra plus studies in Tanzania. Both studies showed an approximate 1% transmission risk between six weeks and six months with maternal HAART or infant prophylaxis through six months.
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Date: Oct 1, 2009 | Category: Research highlights