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Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Isolation of Leukocytes from the Human Maternal-fetal Interface
Published on: May 21, 2015
Absence of maternal-fetal transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 to second-trimester fetuses
A Pascual1, I Bruna, J Cerrolaza
1Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Hospital de Móstoles, Madrid, Spain.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of in utero infection to the vertical transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 during the second trimester.
Study Design:
We examined fetal tissues from 21 second-trimester prostaglandin-induced abortions among human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected women and compared the fetal vertical transmission rates with those among children born to human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive women. The presence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 nucleic acid sequences was investigated with two different highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction techniques in tissue samples from the fetal thymus, lung, and brain.
Results:
No human immunodeficiency virus type 1 deoxyribonucleic acid was detected in any of the samples.
Conclusion:
The absence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in all fetuses in our study is compatible with a low rate of maternal-fetal transmission during the second trimester of pregnancy.
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