Reduction of Maternal-Infant Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 with Zidovudine Treatment

In pregnant women with mildly symptomatic HIV disease and no prior treatment with antiretroviral drugs during the pregnancy, a regimen consisting of zidovudine given ante partum and intra partum to the mother and to the newborn for six weeks reduced the risk of maternal-infant HIV transmission by approximately two thirds.