Can a baby be born without Hiv if the Father has HIV?

Question

Recently heard of a situation were this young man died of Hiv. Had a girlfriend that was pregnant. The child is almost 2 years old.
Is it possible for the child to not be infected with HIV?

Answer 1

This is difficult because men known to have HIV can have a procedure called "sperm washing". This removes HIV from the semen and the woman is artifically inseminated.

But I presume this did not happen.

The man, you say, died of AIDS related illness, so, this means his HIV was quite advanced and commonly people have HIV for many years before developing AIDS. It is safe to say he had HIV prior to conceiving the 2 year old baby.

As others have said, it is possible the man infected the mother, and, in turn, the mother has infected the baby. While mother to child transmission is common, the risk is around 15-30% where there is no medical intervention (www.unaids.org). This also takes into account post natal breatfeeding (because breastmilk contains HIV in an infected mother). Although, prolonged breatfeeding can raise the risk to about 45%.

This risk could have been eliminated with sperm washing. The risk could have been reduced significantly (by about 50%) through the use of antiretroviral drugs after delivery and abstaining from breastfeeding.

So yes it is possible the child is not HIV infected. Taking into account a worse case scenario of no antiretroviral drugs after delivery AND prolonged breastfeeding AND the chance the mother was infected in the first place, there is about a 50-65% chance the baby is HIV-.

Answer 2

The only way a baby can be born with HIV is to acquire the virus from its mother (physically) --- usually during childbirth.

The mom should have been offered routine prenatal screening that, if agreed to, would contain an HIV test.

Without medical intervention if the mom is HIV+ there is a 29% chance that she will pass HIV onto her baby.

With excellent medical care, antiretrovirals starting 2nd trimester, and a few modifications during delivery (inlcuding IV antiretrovirals), followed by a 1 month dose of antiretroviral(s) for the baby....all of this together works out to a risk of transmission somewhere under 1%.

So, it is very possible he is negative even if his mother is HIV+. If his mother is HIV- there is NO chance that the child is positive

Answer 3

there is a high chance that the child may be infected. usually the virius passes on through bodily fluids and since he is the father meaning he had a sexual relationship with the mother then yes the baby did come from him so it is possiable. it depends on when the father developed HIV. if he had it before the child was born he may be have even infected the mother therefore increasing the risk of the baby to have HIV. the child should be tested. as well as the mother

Answer 4

Yes. HIV is not passed genetically. However, the infected man may have infected the mother who may have infected the child during birth. It would be very important for both the mother and child to be tested for HIV so that treatment could be initiated should either be HIV+.

Answer 5

Of course....The baby would have got HIV from the mother, not the father. Does the mother have HIV also?

Answer 6

have the baby tsted right away..there is still a "gestation" period..it can be transfeered from the father to mother to baby..there are quite a few babys born every year with HIV..because of this and it is a growing problem not only here in the US but the world..

Answer 7

No, because if the father had sex with the mother of the child, when the baby is born it could be born with stds, or be okay.

Answer 8

yes but he needs to be tested..they also have drugs now that can keep an infected pregnant woman from passing it to the baby

Answer 9

yes

check out this website from cdc
http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/default.htm

Answer 10

Yes but please speak to your doctor NOW!!!