It is very important that infants born to HIV-infected women get special medical care. Ideally, women with HIV should take HIV medicines during pregnancy and labor and delivery, and their babies should be given medicines right after birth to reduce the risk of HIV being passed to the baby. However, some women do not know that they have HIV when they are pregnant. If a woman does not take HIV medications before the baby’s birth, medications can still be given to the infant right after birth to lower the chances that the baby will become infected.Newborn screening is a safety net program for infants whose mothers were not tested for HIV during pregnancy. In New York State, all babies are tested for HIV antibodies. Since all newborns carry their mother’s antibodies, the baby of a woman with HIV will test positive for the first 6 to 18 months, even if the baby is not actually infected. A baby with HIV antibodies will be given medicines to lower the risk of HIV infection. If a baby’s HIV antibody test is positive at birth, the baby’s blood will be tested a few times using a special test called PCR (which looks for HIV directly). The first test (to find out if the infant is actually infected with HIV) should be done soon after birth, preferably during the first week of life. The baby’s doctor will recommend the best time(s) for the next PCR test(s). Generally, by age 4 months, a PCR test can show whether or not an infant has HIV.
