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Updated: May 19, 2026

Isolation of Leukocytes from Human Breast Milk for Use in an Antibody-dependent Cellular Phagocytosis Assay of HIV Targets
Published on: September 6, 2019
HIV transmission to extremely low birth weight infants
Lloyd Tooke1, Alan R Horn, Michael C Harrison
1Department of Neonatology, Groote Schuur Hospital, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. Lloyd.tooke@uct.ac.za
Background:
Prematurity increases the perinatal HIV transmission rate compared with term infants. There is sparse literature documenting the risk of transmission of HIV to extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants.
Objective:
To determine the risk of perinatal transmission of HIV to ELBW infants in a tertiary neonatal unit in South Africa.
Methods:
A prospective database was maintained on all inborn ELBW infants over a 1-year period from March 2010 to February 2011. Survival and DNA HIV polymerase chain reaction results at 6 weeks were recorded.
Results:
Of the 180 ELBW infants, 51 (28%) of these babies were HIV exposed. Of these 51 infants, 37 survived until 6 weeks of age. Polymerase chain reaction testing revealed 1 HIV-positive infant for a rate of 2.7% (95% confidence interval: 0.7-14.1%). Twenty-six (72%) of the 36 mothers received antiretroviral drugs, but only 16 (44%) had been treated for more than 1 month.
Conclusions:
The rate of HIV transmission in this cohort of ELBW infants is very low despite only 44% of the mothers receiving adequate antiretroviral drugs. We postulate that this is due to our high (89%) cesarean section rate, universal (100%) infant prophylactic antiretroviral drugs and the use of pasteurized breast milk.
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