PREGNANCY
- Pregnancy, of course, is not actually a ‘disorder’
- Almost all women in the Netherlands are tested for HIV during their pregnancy
- In the Netherlands, there has only been one mother-to-child transmission since 2015
Pregnancy is an outlier in the list of HIV indicator disorders, because we don't actually call it a 'disorder'. However, testing for HIV is very important during pregnancy. The consequences of not discovering an HIV infection or detecting it too late has major consequences for your unborn child. If a pregnant woman has an HIV infection, but does not aware of this, she can transmit it to her baby in the womb. This transmission happens during labor or after the delivery while breastfeeding. If the mother is not treated for her HIV infection, there is a 20 to 30 percent chance that the mother will transmit HIV to her baby.
Fortunately, almost all women in the Netherlands are routinely tested for HIV in the first trimester of their pregnancy. The chance that a pregnant woman is positive for HIV is very small, between 0.04 and 0.08 percent. Even though chances are slim, we can prevent a possible HIV infection in the baby.
Namely, if the mother has HIV, but is adequately treated for the infection, the chance of transmitting HIV to the baby is virtually 0. With proper treatment, the virus can no longer be found in the mother's blood and therefore cannot be transferred. Because we test so well for HIV during pregnancy in the Netherlands, HIV has only been transmitted from mother to child once since 2015.
Namely, if the mother has HIV, but is adequately treated for the infection, the chance of transmitting HIV to the baby is virtually 0. With proper treatment, the virus can no longer be found in the mother's blood and therefore cannot be transferred. Because we test so well for HIV during pregnancy in the Netherlands, HIV has only been transmitted from mother to child once since 2015.
