Efficacy of single dose nevirapine in prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV-1

Objective(s)

To evaluate the efficacy of single dose nevirapine in the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV-1 in 30 HIV-1 infected parturients.

Material and Method(s)

This study was necessary since any study has not been conducted in an Indian population, were usually women are not offered antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy but only peripartum. East Go-davari District of Andhra Pradesh, India, has the highest prevalence (2.5%) of HTV-1 positive antenatal women, according to NACO estimations. Therefore, the study was conducted in Lutheran General Hospital, Rajahmundry, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India, at a 50-bedded hospital offering health care to people living with HIV/AIDS. One year prospective study with 30 Primigravidae infected with HTV-1, were planned for elective cesarean section. Single dose 200mg tablet was administered two hours prior to the cesarean section and all babies were given nevirapine syrup 2mg/kg within 72 hours of birth. Babies were tested for HIV-1 at one and two weeks of birth.

Result(s)

All the women were primigravidae. Nineteen babies born to these mothers tested positive for HTV-1 after two weeks, confirming the transmission rate to be 63.33% (95% CI of proportion 45.36%–78.15%). Thus, the efficacy of single dose nevirapine in preventing mother to child transmission was found to be 36.67%. Neonatal morbidity was more in those babies that were HTV positive. Two neonatal deaths occurred in two weeks and both babies were HTV-1 positive.

Conclusion(s)

Single dose nevirapine is associated with a lower efficacy in preventing mother to child transmission of HTV-1.