Absence of maternal-fetal transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 to second-trimester fetuses.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of in utero infection to the vertical transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 during the second trimester. We examined fetal tissues from 21 second-trimester prostaglandin-induced abortions among human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected women and compared the fetal vertical transmission rates with those among children born to human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive women. The presence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 nucleic acid sequences was investigated with two different highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction techniques in tissue samples from the fetal thymus, lung, and brain. No human immunodeficiency virus type 1 deoxyribonucleic acid was detected in any of the samples. The absence of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in all fetuses in our study is compatible with a low rate of maternal-fetal transmission during the second trimester of pregnancy.