Washington, July 22 (Inditop.com) Researchers have uncovered the first case of HIV almost certainly being transmitted by infected mothers to children through pre-chewed food.
The source of HIV in the pre-chewed food was most likely the infected blood in the saliva of the people who pre-chewed the food before giving it to the children.
The researchers said their findings suggest that HIV-infected mothers or other care givers should be warned against giving infants pre-chewed food and directed toward safer feeding options.
The cases indicate that physicians and clinics should routinely include questions about pre-chewing food in their health screening of infant care givers who have HIV or are suspected of the infection.
Also, possible cases of HIV transmission through pre-chewed food should be reported to public health agencies to help increase understanding of the prevalence of such transmission.
The study was led by Aditya Gaur, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, with colleagues. Gaur did his MBBS, DCH and MD from South Gujarat University, Surat, India.
Giving infants pre-chewed food has been reported to transmit infections such as streptococcus and the hepatitis B virus, Gaur said.
However, until these cases there was no evidence that the blood-borne HIV could be similarly transmitted.
The source of blood in the saliva of the person pre-chewing the food for the child may likely have been visible or microscopic bleeding from the gums or some other part of the mouth, he added.
In their paper, the researchers described three cases in which pre-chewed food was likely the source of HIV transmission to infants.
The case that led to this published report was a nine-month-old infant who was referred to St. Jude because she was HIV positive after earlier tests had been negative.
“Her HIV-positive mother had not breastfed her, and further investigation had ruled out transmission by blood transfusion, injury or sexual abuse,” Gaur said.
Also, genetic testing, showed that the daughter had been infected with the same HIV strain as the mother.
“Fortunately, the St. Jude nurse practitioner, Marion Donohoe, was very thorough in her questioning about feeding practices, and she asked about pre-mastication. It turned out this mother had fed her daughter pre-chewed food,” Gaur said.
These findings were published in Paediatrics.
