Pediatric AIDS

Because their immune systems are still developing, infants with HIV progress much faster in their disease than adults do. Treatment of babies born with HIV must begin immediately to prevent opportunistic infections and other complications that can result from weakened immune systems. Pediatric AIDS can result when HIV treatments are not successful in suppressing the virus in the child's body.

Cause of Pediatric AIDS

• Pediatric AIDS is caused by a child being born with an HIV infection or having HIV transmitted to him while still an infant. If treatment of the HIV infection is not successful or if no treatment is administered, then the child can progress to pediatric AIDS when her immune system is fully compromised or when she develops diseases known as "opportunistic infections" that a healthy child would not normally develop.

HIV Transmission

• The most common ways for a child to become infected with HIV are HIV-positive blood contact during birth if the mother is HIV-positive or by drinking milk produced by an HIV-positive woman. Infection can occur as a result of blood transfusions, though modern screening practices have all but eliminated this possibility. HIV infection during the pregnancy itself is extremely rare because the virus does not enter the placenta.

Effects of Pediatric AIDS

• Children with pediatric AIDS are much more likely to develop severe infections of the ears and sinuses and are also likely to develop other childhood illnesses at a higher degree of severity. Other infections such as urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and meningitis will be more common as well. Physical and mental developmental delays may occur as a result of the child's HIV infection as well as the multiple illnesses that they experience while still young. HIV-positive children who have not developed pediatric AIDS are more susceptible to these illnesses and developmental delays as well.

Treatment

• The same antiretroviral (ARV) medications that are used to treat AIDS and HIV infection in adults are given to children with pediatric AIDS and HIV. If the mother of the child is HIV-positive then the child will begin receiving the HIV drug AZT soon after delivery even though they won't have received a diagnosis of pediatric HIV infection at that point. ARV treatments must be taken on a strict schedule without missing doses to keep virus levels in the blood low and prevent damage to the immune system.

Special Considerations

• Pediatric AIDS and HIV infection can cause diarrhea and vomiting, as can many of the treatments that are used to keep HIV at bay. Dehydration is a common occurrence with HIV and AIDS patients of all ages, but can be especially dangerous to young children. Children who become sick soon after taking their medicine may need additional doses as a result of throwing up the dose that they had just been given.

Misconceptions

• A child born to an HIV-positive mother does not necessarily have HIV; AZT is given starting at birth to help prevent an HIV infection from developing, and the child is tested regularly for several months after birth to see if an HIV infection develops. Though children born to HIV-positive women will test positive at birth, this is generally a false positive as most HIV tests indicate the presence of HIV antibodies and not the virus itself. With proper treatment of both the mother and the child, there is only around a 2 percent chance of HIV being passed on during childbirth. Children who do develop an HIV infection or pediatric AIDS can still live a normal life with proper care, however, and are likely to enjoy a normal lifespan.