Maternal transmission of acquired immune deficiency syndrome

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has been used recently to designate a constellation of severe life-threatening disorders associated with varying degrees of acquired immunodeficiency. The etiology of the disease is unknown, but most investigations have focused on a transmittable infectious agent, such as a virus, with disease expression possibly exacerbated by certain drugs. A recent study suggests that the agent may be carried in blood products. In the present report, the authors describe three female children, half-siblings, whose mother is a prostitute and drug addict, with laboratory and clinical signs of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. A black female child who weighed 860 gm at birth, and was estimated to be 26 weeks of gestational age, was the first to be affected. The postnatal period was complicated by bronchopulmonary dysplasia, bilateral ventricular hemorrhage, acquired cytomegalovirus infection, and Staphylococcus epidermis sepsis. At 28 months of age, she was noted to have increased numbers of Epstein-Ban virus-transformed peripheral Wood non-T cells, consistent with Epstein-Barr virus infection. At age 48 months, she was admitted in respiratory distress to a local hospital, where.