Authors: Sharon Salt, Editor
Research presented at IDWeek 2018 (3–8 October, San Francisco, CA, USA) has revealed that in HIV-positive pregnant women, one type of ART medication – efavirenz – could increase the risk of offspring developing a neurological condition.
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a vital treatment that helps prevent pregnant women from passing HIV onto their offspring. The risk of HIV passing from mother to offspring without ART is approximately one in four.
In the investigation, researchers observed that children of women whose ART regimen included efavirenz were 60% more likely to develop a neurological condition, such as microcephaly, seizures and eye abnormalities, than children whose mothers took other ART medications.