Zidovudine for the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to infant.

Worldwide, perinatal (i.e., mother to infant) transmission accounts for most human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections among children; in the United States, of the approximately 7000 infants born to HIV-infected mothers each year, 1000-2000 are HIV-infected. Strategies for reducing perinatally acquired HIV infection have included preventing HIV infection among women and, for HIV-infected women, avoiding pregnancy or refraining from breastfeeding their infants. On February 21, 1994, the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) announced preliminary results from a randomized, multicenter, double-blinded clinical trial of zidovudine (ZDV) to prevent HIV transmission from mothers to their infants (AIDS Clinical Trials Group [ACTG] protocol 076). This report summarizes the interim results of that trial, which indicate effectiveness of ZDV for prevention of perinatal transmission.