A 1998 French study and an NIH-sponsored review of international experience suggest that a planned cesarean section before labor begins can further reduce the risk that a woman with HIV who took AZT during pregnancy will pass the virus on to her baby. These studies, which are preliminary and require confirmation from other studies, found that between 1 and 2 percent of these mothers transmitted HIV to their babies. HIV-infected babies appear normal at birth, but about 20 percent develop AIDS in the first year of life and die before age four. Most of the rest develop AIDS before age six. Because the virus damages the brain, especially in the very young, many children suffer developmental delays.
Babies often fail to gain weight or to grow at an appropriate rate, and frequently have diarrhea.
In 1998, the CDC recommended that all infants diagnosed with HIV be treated with a combination of three HIV-fighting drugs. These drugs can include AZT and related drugs, and protease inhibitors. Studies show that combination therapy slows the progress of the disease and improves survival in infected babies and children, as it does in adults. Most adults with AIDS suffer opportunistic infections which rarely occur in people whose immune systems are not weakened. A child with AIDS is more likely to be threatened by common bacteria.