By Jonathan Ancer and Sapa-AP
Disturbing research has found that women who receive the Aids drug Nevirapine during pregnancy might experience a serious repercussion.
Studies have shown that it can make women resistant to the Aids drugs they might need later on.
The treatment is used in poor countries to prevent the spread of HIV from mothers to their babies.
'It is better to err on the side of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV' In impoverished areas, where the risk is greatest, researchers have settled on a simple, one-time treatment for HIV-infected pregnant women to keep them from passing the virus to their newborns.
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The treatment, using Nevirapine, is easy, inexpensive and effective, typically cutting the risk of HIV transmission in half.
However, new findings presented this week at the 11th Annual Retrovirus Conference in San Francisco suggest a potentially important trade-off for the mother that could complicate her later treatment, if it is available.
Earlier studies had suggested that the single dose of the drug might make the virus impervious to later treatment, but until now there has been no clear evidence whether the theoretical risk is real.
"This is crucial data that the world has been waiting for," said Dr Scott Hammer, of Columbia University.
'We do not have another option in most places' One study, conducted in South Africa, has found that 39 percent of HIV-infected women who received Nevirapine during pregnancy go on to harbour a virus that is resistant to the drug.
Another, done in Thailand, found that women who had received Nevirapine during pregnancy were much less likely to do well on a standard three-drug regimen if they developed Aids.
However, Dr Neil Martinson, of the Wits perinatal HIV research unit based at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, who presented the results of the Department of Health-funded South African study to the conference, told The Star last night that women should not stop taking Nevirapine.
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