Short-course oral zidovudine for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire: a randomised trial.

BACKGROUND: In Africa, the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 infection is high. Short-course perinatal oral zidovudine might decrease the rate of transmission. We assessed the safety and efficacy of such a regimen among HIV-1-seropositive breastfeeding women in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. METHODS: From April, 1996, to February, 1998, all consenting, eligible HIV-1-seropositive pregnant women attending a public antenatal clinic in Abidjan were enrolled at 36 weeks' gestation and randomly assigned placebo or zidovudine (300 mg tablets), one tablet twice daily until the onset of labour, one tablet at onset of labour, and one tablet every 3 h until delivery. We used HIV-1-DNA PCR to test the infection status of babies at birth, 4 weeks, and 3 months. We stopped the study on Feb 18, 1998, when efficacy results were available from a study in Bangkok, Thailand, in which the same regimen was used in a non-breastfeeding population. FINDINGS: 280 women were enrolled (140 in each group). The median duration of the prenatal drug regimen was 27 days (range 1-80) and the median duration of labour was 7.5 h. Treatment was well tolerated with no withdrawals because of adverse events. All babies were breastfed. Among babies with known infection status at age 3 months, 30 (26.1%) of 115 babies in the placebo group and 19 (16.5%) of 115 in the zidovudine group were identified as HIV-1 infected. The estimated risk of HIV-1 transmission in the placebo and zidovudine groups were 21.7% and 12.2% (p=0.05) at 4 weeks, and 24.9% and 15.7% (p=0.07) at 3 months. Efficacy was 44% (95% CI -1 to 69) at age 4 weeks and 37% (-5 to 63) at 3 months. INTERPRETATION: Short-course oral zidovudine was safe, well tolerated, and decreased mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 at age 3 months. Substantial efforts will be needed to ensure successful widespread implementation of such a regimen.

Association of human papillomavirus with HIV and CD4 cell count in women with high or low numbers of sex partners.

OBJECTIVE: To explore whether HIV serostatus (HIV-1, HIV-2, and dual (HIV-D) reactivity) and CD4 cell count affect human papillomavirus (HPV) in two groups of women from Côte d'Ivoire. METHODS: We conducted a cross sectional study of two groups of women. One group had low numbers of lifetime sex partners (maternal women, n = 258) and were enrolled based on HIV serostatus. The other group had high numbers of sex partners (female sex workers, n = 278) and all consenting self identified sex workers were admitted to this study. We collected epidemiological and clinical data, and cervicovaginal lavage for HPV testing. RESULTS: The groups had different distributions of HIV seroreactivity, but the rates of HPV DNA detection were similar. Most of the HPV DNAs detected in both groups were high risk types. A strong association of high risk HPV DNA and HIV-1 seropositivity was found in both maternal women (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 7.5 (95% CI 3.2-17.4)) and in sex workers (OR 5.0 (2.1-12.0)). The maternal group also showed an association of high risk HPV DNA detection with HIV-2 (OR 3.7 (1.6-8.5)) and HIV-D (OR 12.7 (4.3-37.5)) that was not observed in the sex workers. In addition, the association of high risk HPV DNA with HIV-1 in the maternal group was independent of low CD4 cell count, while in the sex workers the association depended on CD4 cell counts < or = 500 x 10(6)/l. CONCLUSIONS: We found that an association between HPV and HIV varied depending on the sexual behaviour and CD4 cell count of the population examined.

HIV and human papillomavirus as independent risk factors for cervical neoplasia in women with high or low numbers of sex partners.

OBJECTIVE: To explore whether HIV types 1 and 2 and CD4 cell count affect cervical neoplasia independent of human papillomavirus (HPV) in women with high or low numbers of sexual partners residing in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. METHODS: The study population and methods are described in the companion paper. Additional methods include a Papanicolaou smear for cytological diagnosis and statistical analysis. RESULTS: In maternal women, both HIV-1 and high risk HPV were significant independent risk factors for squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL) (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 11.0 (95% CI 1.1-112) and 5.4 (1.5-18.8), respectively). Only high levels of HPV DNA in the lavage were associated with SIL (OR 13.2 (3.6-47.8)) in the maternal group. In female sex workers, high risk HPV was significantly associated with SIL (OR 23.7 (4.4-126)); HIV seropositivity was not. Any positive level (high or low amounts) of HPV DNA was significantly associated with SIL in sex workers (ORs 15.9 (3.3-76) and 12.7 (3.6-44), respectively). There was no association of SIL with CD4 cell counts < or = 500 x 10(6)/l in HIV seropositive women from either group. CONCLUSION: HPV or HIV-1 infection independently affect cervical neoplasia in women with low numbers of sex partners.