DR Medhat MRCP

• HIV in pregnancy :
- 0.4% of pregnant women in London have HIV .
- Chance of vertical transmission to the baby is 25-30%.
- NICE guidelines recommend offering HIV screening to all pregnant women.
- Factors which vertical transmission ( from 25-30% to 2%):
1) Maternal & neonatal anti-retroviral therapy :
o All pregnant women with HIV should be offered antiretroviral
therapy (between 28-32 weeks of gestation & should be continued
intrapartum) regardless of whether they were taking it previously or
not.
o Start Zidovudine I.V infusion to the mother 4 hours before beginning
of caesarian section.
o Give oral zidovudine to the neonate for 4-6 weeks.
2) Mode of delivery : elective C.S with pre-operative Zidovudine infusion.
3) Infant feeding : bottle feeding ( breast feeding is contraindicated).
2) Chickenpox
- Chickenpox is caused by primary infection with varicella zoster virus.
- Shingles is reactivation of dormant virus in dorsal root ganglion
- Chickenpox is highly infectious :
• Spread via the respiratory route.
• Infectivity = 4 days before rash, until 5 days after the rash first appeared*
• Incubation period = 10-21 days
• Clinical features (tend to be more severe in older children/adults)
Fever initially.
Itchy, rash starting on head/trunk before spreading, Initially macular then papular
then vesicular
Systemic upset is usually mild.
• Management is supportive
Keep cool, clean, trim nails
Calamine lotion.
School exclusion: current HPA advice is 5 days from start of skin eruption.
Varicella zoster immunoglobulin (VZIG) : for Immunocompromised patients and
newborns with peripartum exposure .
IV aciclovir : If chickenpox or its complications (e.g varicella pneumonia )develops
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