Implications of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV among Infected Pregnant Women and their Infants attending a PMTCT ARV Clinic in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) is a major means through which HIV infected pregnant mothers pass the virus to their infants. This study aimed to assess the implications of MTCT of HIV among infected Pregnant Women and their Infants.Methods:60 consenting HIV infected pregnant women attending a PMTCT ARV clinic in Ibadan, were followed up for eighteen months. Data were captured using structured questionnaire and analyzed to identify associations. Results: The mother’s age range was 24-41 years with a mean of 32.9 years, while the infant’s median age was 35 days. 32 (72.7%) of them were females with mean birth weight of 3.10 Kg. MTCT of HIV was 4.5% (2/44). Majority of the respondents were of parity 1 (22.7%) and parity 2 (27.3%) and are in monogamous marriage (81.8%), while predominant religion and occupation were Christianity (59.1%) and Trading (56.8%). Viral load was negatively correlated with hemoglobin (r=-0.334), lymphocyte (r=-0.188), and neutrophil (- 0.151) but positively correlated with WBC count (r=0.141). However, between pregnancy and birth CD4 count increased from 503 to 716 (p<0.001). Viral load at birth was higher in positive babies (Mean=4.13, SD=0.06) than negative (mean=1.18, SD=0.71) with p=0.001. Conclusions: This study identified high risk as predictors of MTCT of HIV among exposed infants on follow up with severe implicating consequences. Therefore, testing for pregnant women for HIV should be a national priority, hence the need for more sensitization on the utilization of PMTCT program in Nigeria.