Breast milk micronutrients and mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization/United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS [1], there were 370,000 new cases of HIV infection among children in 2009. This is in addition to the estimated 2.5 million children already infected with HIV worldwide. Ninety percent of pediatric HIV infections are contracted from the mother. Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV occurs during pregnancy, at delivery, or through breastfeeding in about 20-45% of babies born to HIV-infected mothers, in the absence of interventions. Because the availability of antiretroviral prophylaxis to prevent perinatal MTCT is expanding [2, 3], the number of infections through breastfeeding is increasing and their prevention remains a major challenge [2]. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York.