[HIV screening in pregnancy--too many failures?].

Danish official guidelines recommend that women belonging to risk groups should be offered HIV testing during pregnancy. Universal HIV testing during antenatal care is not required. We describe three infants with vertically acquired HIV infection born to mothers, who, despite belonging to high-risk groups (one from Thailand, two from Sub-Saharan Africa), had not been offered an HIV test during pregnancy. The infants, born within a one-year period, presented with AIDS-defining symptoms during their first months of life. Two children had Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and one had severe failure to thrive. These cases demonstrate that a significant number, perhaps up to 20% of women with known risk factors, are not HIV-tested during pregnancy. Thus, selective screening for HIV during pregnancy is ineffective and should be replaced by a universal offer of an HIV test.