HIV infection in pregnancy

The epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is now affecting populations that were less susceptible in the early 1980s. It is estimated that 8% of patients with AIDS in the US are women in the reproductive age, and 1% are children. In Israel up to 1992, 134 women and 14 children of infected parents were reported as carrying antibodies against the virus. A pregnant women who was a carrier prompted us to formulate various questions as to how the infection affects pregnancy and vice versa, proper management at delivery, rate and modes of perinatal transmission, risk to health care workers, and legal aspects of HIV infection in Israel.