Infants and Children
Pediatric cases of HIV/AIDS in Minnesota
Pediatric cases are defined in accordance with the CDC criteria as those cases of HIV or AIDS
who were less than 13 years of age at the time of test or diagnosis. In Minnesota, 77 cases of
pediatric HIV infection have been diagnosed in Minnesota to date, 56 (73%) of whom are still
assumed to be alive. Fifty-six (72%) of the 77 cases resulted from perinatal exposure, 9% were
associated with hemophilia or other coagulation disorder, 5% associated with blood transfusion
or transplant, and 13% had an undetermined exposure. These data reflect cases that were
diagnosed with HIV in Minnesota and does not include cases that were diagnosed elsewhere
and are now living in Minnesota.
As of December 31, 2014 there were 49 people under the age of 13 living with HIV/AIDS in
Minnesota.
Perinatal Transmission
Number of Cases
One of the success
Births to HIV-Infected Women and Number of Perinatally
stories in the history
Acquired HIV Infections* by Year of Birth, 2005 - 2014
of HIV infection is the
use of medication to
80
successfully reduce
Births
HIV Infections
70
perinatal
transmission of the
60
virus.
Without
50
treatment, the risk of
40
HIV
transmission
Rate of Perinatal Transmission
from a pregnant
30
for years 2012-2014 = 1.1%
woman to her child
20
before or during birth
10
is
approximately
0
25%1.
Preventive
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
antiretroviral
Year
treatment can reduce
HIV or AIDS at first diagnosis for a child exposed to HIV during mother’s pregnancy, at birth, and/or
this percentage to 1– *during
breastfeeding.
2
2% . If breastfeeding
is avoided, nearly all children born to HIV-infected mothers can be spared infection.
The U.S. Public Health Service released guidelines in 1994 for the use of zidovudine to prevent
perinatal transmission of HIV and in 1995 recommended universal counseling and voluntary HIV
1
2
Conner EM, Sperling RS, Gelber R. et al. Reduction of Maternal-Infant Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 with
Zidovudine Treatment. New England Journal of Medicine, 331(28): 1173-80, 1994.
Cooper ER, Charurat M, Mofenson L, et al. Combination antiretroviral strategies for the treatment of pregnant HIV-1 infected women and
prevention of perinatal HIV-1 transmission. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 29:484-94, 2002.
Epidemiologic Profile – Infants and Children
December 2015
testing for pregnant women. With the widespread adoption of these guidelines, perinatal HIV
transmission in the United States decreased by 81% between 1995 and 19993.
For the past decade the number of births to HIV-infected women increased steadily from 41 in
2005 to 65 births in 2014. The rate of transmission has decreased from 15% between 1994 and
1996 to 1.1% over the past three years, with one HIV+ baby born to an HIV+ mother in
Minnesota in 2014.
Reporting of births to HIV positive women is known to be incomplete. As a result of a project
conducted in 2001, MDH has both implemented an active component for perinatal surveillance
in collaboration with pediatric HIV clinicians in the Twin Cities to increase reporting of births to
HIV-infected mothers, and in 2005 changed reporting rules to explicitly state that a pregnancy
in an HIV-positive woman is a reportable condition. In addition, surveillance staff matches
surveillance records with vital statistics records on a yearly basis to identify births to HIV
positive women. Despite these efforts, reporting of pregnancy among women living with
HIV/AIDS continues to be incomplete.
3
Bulterys M, Nolan ML, Jamieson DJ, Dominguez K, Fowler MG. Advances in the prevention of mother-to-child HIV-1 transmission: current
issues, future challenges. AIDScience, 2(4):1-18, 2002.
Epidemiologic Profile – Infants and Children
December 2015