Sreemoyee Chatterjee
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Written By: Sreemoyee Chatterjee | Published : September 30, 2018 7:13 PM IST
A newborn contracted HIV from his dad © Shutterstock
Dads too can transmit HIV to their newborns, not just the moms. While such cases are unusual, a rare case has been reported by the researchers where a new-born baby of an HIV negative mother contracted the virus from his father who was also suffering chicken pox. According to a recent IANS report, the source of the infection for the baby was fluids leaking from the skin blisters of the father.
Transmission occurred during the seroconversion period when the father was unaware of the (HIV) infection and was likely accidental, reportedly said the study co-authored by Nuno Taveira of University of Lisbon, Portugal, and colleagues. The report highlighted that the child was diagnosed with the condition when he became 4-year-old. The study that included the results of genetic, pohylogenetic and serologic data analysis on both the father and son and the hypothesis for how the child became infected, appeared in the journal AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses.
Pertaining to the data obtained from father and son based on a comparative analysis, the researchers found that the virus was accidentally passed on to the son during the first few days of the child's life. The report stated that the father was undergoing a treatment for infection with varicella-zooster virus (chicken pox) and syphilis during the time of seroconversion. He had developed large vesicles all over his body that kept on leaking fluids.
The study mentioned that the high virus production early in HIV infection have had made the fluids leaking from the father's skin blisters extremely infectious. When these contaminated fluids came in touch with the son, the transmission of HIV took place.
This case shows how genetic, phylogenetic, and serological data can contribute for the forensic investigation of HIV transmission, the study reportedly added.
