“Recently, we had a HIV positive pregnant woman at the civil hospital. She was given a dose of the medicine and her child was born without any traces of the virus,” said Dr Jasbir Singh, incharge of Integrated Coordination and Testing Centre (ICTC) at the Civil Hospital.

“But sadly, there is still very less awareness about AIDS and this medicine among patients as well as doctors. If the medicine is administered to a pregnant woman, the risk of transmission reduces to a negligible level. In fact, there is a 91 per cent chance that the child will be completely safe. Otherwise, the odds of the virus being transmitted to the child are 35 per cent,” said Singh.

He said in certain cases, the newborn may test positive for HIV in the first few months after birth as he/she carries the anti-bodies of the mother. “But soon, the tests start showing negative,” he added.

Dr Chanchal Jaggi, an ayurvedic medical officer posted at Mullanpur and an active member of the Red Ribbon Express team, reiterates Singh’s advice. “The only way to ensure that the virus is not transferred to the newborn is to give a single dose of Nevirapine to the HIV positive mother. Within 48 to 72 hours of birth, the newborn should also be given oral suspension of Nevirapine (in the form of syrup) as per his/her body weight,” he said.

For the record
Year patients at ICTC
2003 17
2004 24
2005 41
2006 51
2007 141
According to the report of the 2005 Sentinel Surveillance, Ludhiana district has the highest number of AIDS/HIV-positive patients. While men comprise the majority, the number of women and children has also been rising steadily.