Jane

Jane is a 9 month old girl who is HIV positive and as you can see is quite small. That is usually the first sign that a baby has HIV is that they stop growing. She was admitted for nutritional feeds. She also has TB. The TB must be treated first before you can start treating the HIV. The symptoms of TB or other infections are not from the bug but from your immune system attacking the bug. If you treat the HIV first, and thereby improve her immune system, she would get such a strong immune reaction that she would likely go into a coma and die. So we treat the TB first for about a month or two and then will begin her on anti-retrovirals. Babies either get HIV during the birthing process if the mom does not get anti-retroviral therapy right before and during birth. Or the baby will get HIV through breast feeding.