Sexual and Mother-to-Child Transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1: A Review

PROBLEM: Sexual and mother‐to‐child transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 occurs only with a low percentage of infection. Many instances of sexual intercourse result in no transmission, and only 20% of children are infected from seropositive mothers (3% in mothers treated wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of reproductive immunology (1989) 1998-09, Vol.40 (3), p.183-186
Main Author: CHERMANN, JEAN-CLAUDE
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
AIDS/HIV
Biological and medical sciences
Cellular antigens
Female
HIV
HIV Infections - transmission
HIV-1
Human viral diseases
Humans
Immunodeficiencies
Immunodeficiencies. Immunoglobulinopathies
Immunopathology
Infant, Newborn
Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical
Infectious diseases
Male
Medical sciences
Pregnancy
semen antibodies
Sexual Partners
transmission
Viral diseases
Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids
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Summary:PROBLEM: Sexual and mother‐to‐child transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 occurs only with a low percentage of infection. Many instances of sexual intercourse result in no transmission, and only 20% of children are infected from seropositive mothers (3% in mothers treated with azidothymidine). METHOD OF STUDY: We analyzed the presence of HIV in various ejaculates of the same HIV‐infected patients, as well as in the cervico‐vaginal fluid. We have studied the mechanism of transmission from mother to child, by analyzing the cell‐to‐cell transmission in the trophoblast. RESULTS: Some ejaculates collected at different times from the same HIV‐infected males are free of virus, explaining the low rate of sexual transmission. We never found HIV in mobile spermatozoa. The trophoblast can be infected by HIV with a strain dependence and also transiently. By analyzing the tissue of the fetus, it was found that only some organs are infected, confirming the cell‐to‐cell transmission between the mother and child and not a true vertical transmission through the germinal lines. CONCLUSIONS: HIV is not always present in the genital secretion, explaining the low rate of sexual transmission. Mother‐to‐child transmission occurs during pregnancy but often after the second trimester and at delivery after cell‐to‐cell or blood transmission, respectively.
ISSN:1046-7408
8755-8920
1600-0897
DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0897.1998.tb00411.x