[00:07.05]The World Health Organization says about 600,000-- 300 babies got H-I-V,
[00:15.39]the virus that causes AIDS, from their mothers in 1998.
[00:20.48]It says 90% of those babies were in African countries south of the Sahara Desert.
[00:28.71]Did those babies have the virus at birth?
[00:32.03]Or did they become infected later in life?
[00:36.05]A new study says breast-feeding is a major cause of H-I-V in African babies.
[00:44.28]It was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
[00:50.13]The study was led by Ruth Nduati of the University of Nairobi in Kenya.
[00:57.18]She had help from researchers from the University of Seattle in the American state of Washington.
[01:04.55]The researchers divided 800 H-I-V infected Kenyan mothers into two groups.
[01:13.04]One group breast-fed their new babies.
[01:16.43]The other women fed their babies a liquid baby food called formula.
[01:22.39]Ninety of the babies became infected with H-I-V.
[01:27.80]The rate of infection was two times higher among the breast-fed babies than among the others.
[01:35.40]The researchers also found that infection from breast milk often happens within the first few months of the baby's life.
[01:45.82]However, the study shows that reducing the AIDS virus in babies is not as simple as changing from breast-feeding to formula.
[01:56.64]The researchers found that after two years, the death rate of the babies in the two groups was the same-about 20%.
[02:07.87]Mary Glenn Fowler works for the United States Centers for Disease Control.
[02:14.43]She says African babies who are not breast-fed have other risks.
[02:20.77]She says baby formula needs to be mixed with water.
[02:25.97]In many poor countries, water is unsafe to drink.
[02:30.83]It can lead to deadly diarrhea in babies.
[02:34.91]She also notes that breast-feeding is traditional in African countries.
[02:41.15]Doctor Fowler thinks infected women should be given drugs that fight the AIDS virus
[02:48.33]while they are pregnant and not breast-feed their babies.
[02:52.56]She says the anti-AIDS drugs also would offer some protection to babies who are breast-fed.
[03:00.64]But, Doctor Nduati says public health officials must do more than that.
[03:07.74]She says one in every three to four pregnant women has H-I-V in African cities south of the Sahara. |