Question
Will starting treatment late in pregnancy still protect my baby?
21 June 2011. Related: All topics, Pregnancy, Starting treatment.
Is my baby likely to be HIV positive if I start taking treatment late during pregnancy?
Answer
Hi
Whenever you get you use treatment during pregnancy it will reduce the risk of HIV passing to your baby.
Without treatment it is about a 25-30% risk. With treatment this reduces to less than 1%.
The reduced risk is based on viral load becoming undetectable (or as low as possible) when you give birth.
Without knowing how late you started treatment, or your viral load when you started and now, it is not possible to talk about the specific risk.
Your healthcare team will manage your pregnancy to reduce the risk as low as possible. This may include using other medicines during the birth and the choice of delivery.
It is good that you have started treatment now though.
For more information see information in this guide to HIV and pregnancy.
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