BMJ 1995;311:747 (16 September)

Letters

Late diagnosis of HIV infection in children is common and devastating

EDITOR,--J A Evans and colleagues draw attention to the late diagnosis of HIV infection in infants not previously known to be at risk of the disease, but they only hint at the potential extent of this problem.1 In 1993, as part of a review of services for children and families with HIV infection, we undertook in depth interviews with 10 families who had a child in the care of our paediatric HIV service.2 This study suggested that the late diagnosis of HIV infection in children is not unusual. Of the 10 children, only three were identified as having the infection antenatally; two mothers had already been diagnosed as HIV positive, and one woman's husband had been diagnosed as HIV positive while she was pregnant. For the seven other families the child's diagnosis was the first indication of HIV infection in the family.

In Evans and colleagues' study the children had . . . [Full text of this article]


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