AIDS in Italy and proposals for a new therapeutic strategy

In Italy, the number of AIDS cases reported up to September 1993 was 18,832. Of these, 3,544 were women (21%), mainly of fertile age. AIDS in pregnancy has aroused great interest in Italy, mainly due to the extent of the phenomenon, which is not equalled in other Western countries. In this contribution to the study of HIV infection in pregnancy, the Authors propose a new procedure for monitoring, asymptomatic HIV-positive pregnant women, using fetal Fibronectin as an indicator of aspecific chorionamnionitis and the threat of premature birth, both considered as a risk factors for transmission of the virus from mother to child.