New moms urged to delay HIV-drug use
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Pregnant women who are HIV-positive and take the drug nevirapine during labor to prevent infecting their babies should wait until six months after delivery to resume taking the drug to avoid developing resistance, researchers reported this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The drug is increasingly used in the developing world to prevent HIV transmission to infants, but 42% of women who resume taking it within six months rapidly develop resistance. Among those who wait six months, only 12% develop resistance.
