The growing number of older children and adolescents living with undiagnosed HIV and AIDS in Africa are not having their needs met, a recent study published in 'Clinical Infectious Diseases' has found.

It is estimated that half a million babies were infected with HIV passed down from their mothers during birth or breastfeeding in 2006. It was assumed that their chances of survival to adulthood were negligible. However, the new study, carried out by Trust-funded researchers based at the Connaught Clinic in Harare, Zimbabwe, shows that older children and adolescents with AIDS have all the features that would be expected of long-term survivors of infant HIV infection.

These children may have already undergone extreme suffering from the indirect effects of HIV, such as orphan hood, impoverishment and the psychological trauma of prolonged illness in parents and siblings. The research team, led by Wellcome Fellows Dr Liz Corbett and Dr Rashida Ferrand, argue that the problems unique to their age-group and circumstances need to be met outside existing services.

Specifically, the paper calls for accessible and sympathetic HIV testing and treatment services, counselling and support, and drug formulations for low-weight individuals whose growth may have been stunted by undiagnosed HIV.

Image: Detail from a poster advising caution against sex with a partner whose HIV status is unknown, Ethiopia; Sasha Andrews, image no. N0032082.

See also

• Press release (12 March 2007)

External links

• Ferrand R et al. HIV infection presenting in older children and adolescents: a case series from Harare, Zimbabwe. Clin Infect Dis 2007;44(6):874-8.