A.I.D.S. testing advised

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 13

A.I.D.S. testing advised

-NZPA-AP Los Angeles “ Health officials are urg- - Ing pregnant women who “ have been exposed to the * hA.T).S. virus to consider ’abortions, even if they 2 don’t have the deadly disease.

A mother who tested * positive for antibodies to ' the acquired immune deficiency syndrome virus had a 30 per cent to 50 per cent chance of passing the infection to her child, said Dr Walter

Dowdle, A.I.D.S. director for the United States Centres for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Dr Betty Bernard, a pediatrician, said all women who were thinking about motherhood should be tested, not just those considered at high risk. "As far as being the baby’s advocate, I would like to know every baby’s mother is clean of the A.I.D.S. virus/’ she said. Infected babies rarely

showed signs of the untreatable disease at birth, but symptoms appeared during the first year of life, said Dr Margaret Oxtoby, a medical epidemiologist

Those Include swollen lymph glands, pneumonia, neurological problems and various infections.

Officials also suspect that women exposed to A.I.D.S. may have a greater chance of developing the disease because

their immune systems are suppressed during pregnancy. Also, the foetus could stimulate an antigenic response in the body that could cause the A.I.D.S. virus to multiply.

Since the Centres for Disease Control started 'keeping records, there have been 410 A.I.D.S. cases involing children in the United States. In 1986, there were 280 pediatric A.I.D.S. cases reported.