Pregnancy – Risks for Men and Women
posted: 24/05/2010
Men have twice the risk of catching HIV when their partner is pregnant, say researchers. A study of more than 3,000 couples in Africa also backed earlier research that showed women are more at risk of HIV infection when they are pregnant. And pregnant women can transmit HIV to their baby, although this can now be almost always prevented. The researchers speculate that changes in a pregnant woman's immune system may increase the chance that her partner gets HIV.
Microbicides hope too
The findings were presented at the International Microbicides Conference in Pittsburgh, USA, alongside a separate study showing a microbicidal gel is safe to use during pregnancy to prevent HIV transmission.
Pregnancy HIV risks – to men as well
Several studies have shown evidence that pregnancy puts women more at risk of catching HIV from their partner, but this is the first time researchers have shown that men are more at risk of HIV susceptible to infection if their partners are pregnant.
The study, carried out in Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, involved 3,321 couples in which one partner was HIV-infected and the other not.
Over two years there were 823 pregnancies, and analysis showed that pregnancy increased both male-to-female and female-to-male infection. For the women, it seemed that factors other than pregnancy contributed to the increased risk of HIV infection.
But for the men, the link between pregnancy and their risk of infection was much clearer, even after accounting for other factors, such as having unprotected sex. The woman’s viral load and CD4 couple made no difference to whether HIV was passed on to the man.
Study leader Dr Nelly Mugo, from the University of Nairobi and the University of Washington in Seattle, said it could be that biological changes during pregnancy make a woman more infectious: "increased female-to-male transmission of HIV during pregnancy may be due to physiological and immunological changes that occur with pregnancy." It may also be affected by the couples sexual behaviour.
For more information on the Pittsburg conference M2010, go to: http://www.microbicides2010.org
Source
Permalink