Infant human immunodeficiency virus infection

Secondary immunodeficiencies (9) are much more common than primary ones and frequently occur as a result of immaturity of the immune system in premature infants, immunosuppressive therapy, or suigery and trauma. Illnesses, particularly when prolonged and serious, have been associated with secondary immunodeficiencies, some of which may be reversible. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) (10—12) may be considered a secondary immunodeficiency disease caused by the human immunodeficiency viruses HIV-1 or HIV-2. Hitherto unknown, the disease began to spread in the United States during the latter part of the 1970s. The agent responsible for this infection has been isolated and identified as a retrovirus. 

O Sullivan MJ, Boyer PJ, Scott GB, Parks PW, Weller S, Blum R, Balsley J, Bryson YJ. The pharmacokinetics and safety of zidovudine in the third trimester of pregnancy for women infected with human immunodeficiency virus and their infants Phase I Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome Clinical Trial Group Study (protocol 082) Zidovudine Collaborative Working Group. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1993 168 1510-6. 

Cunningham CK, Charbonneau TT, Song K, Patterson D, SuUivan T, Cummins T, et al. Comparison of human immunodeficiency virus 1 DNA polymerase chain reaction and qualitative and quantitative RNA polymerase chain reaction in human immunodeficiency virus 1-exposed infants. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1999 18 30-5. 

Pollack H, Glasberg H, Lee E, et al. Impaired early growth of infants perinatally infected with human immunodeficiency virus Correlation with viral load. J Pediatr 1997 130 915-922. 

Miller TL, Easley KA, Zhang W et al. Maternal and infant factors associated with failure to thrive in children with vertically transmitted human immunodeficiency virus-1 infection The prospective, P2C2 human immunodeficiency virus multicenter study. Pediatrics 2001 108 1287— 1296. 

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