Question

My viral load is undetectable, can I transmit HIV to my baby?

My viral load is 22 and cd4 is 356. Can I transmit to my unborn.? I am 5 months pregnant.

Answer

Thanks for getting in touch.

Its great to hear that your viral load is undetectable, this is really important when thinking about transmission.

At this time its not possible to say if your baby will be born positive or not. However the risk will be reduced due to you being on medication. For more info about pregnancy, please see here:

https://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy

14 comments

  1. Christina Antoniadi

    Hello Precious and thank you for the question.

    Congratulation on your pregnancy and I hope you will have an easy labour.

    Precious please don’t worry, you are on the right path.

    A lot of women are diagnosed during pregnancy and going on ARVs helps deliver HIV-free babies.

    The best case scenario is that you will be undetectable by the time you will deliver and you are already on medication that have lowered significantly your viral load. Well done.

    It is recommended that you take your medication as your clinic told you as this helps bring the viral load down faster.

    Please see this guide for more information and feel free to contact us again if you have more questions:
    https://i-base.info/guides/pregnancy

  2. Precious

    Hi
    My viral load was 17000 when I was 2 months pregnant. I am now 7 months it is 700 will my unborn baby be at risk?

  3. Josh Peasegood

    Hi Jiel, as you are undetectable the risk will not change by baby having a wound in her gam. You can continue to breastfeed baby without increasing the risk of transmission.

  4. Jiel

    My baby girl has a wound in her Gam can I still transmit it to her
    My viral load is understandable