Epidemiologische kenmerken van gemelde HIV-1-infectie bij kinderen in Nederland, 1998-2000: verticale transmissie door ouders uit gebieden met een gegeneraliseerde epidemie

To document the course and characteristics of the annual new diagnoses of HIV-1 infection in children in the Netherlands.

Design

Prospective registration from January 1, 1998 till December 31, 2000.

Methods

Dutch paediatricians reported HIV-positive children to the Dutch Paediatric Surveillance Unit on a monthly basis. All reports were followed up with standard questionnaires.

Results

During the period 1998-2000, 42 children were diagnosed with HIV-1 infection. This number was almost equal to the number of HIV-1 infected children diagnosed during the period 1995-1997 (n = 43). In 86 of the children one or both parents originated from a country with a generalised HIV epidemic. In the case of two children (5), both parents were of Dutch origin. Most children (81) were infected by mother-to-child transmission. Of these children, 48 (n = 20) were born in the Netherlands. Forty percent of the children born in the Netherlands and infected through vertical transmission lived in one of the four big cities of the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht). The remaining 60 were distributed across almost all the Dutch provinces.

Conclusions

The increase in the number of newly-infected children in 1995-1997 appears to have reached a plateau in 1998-2000, possibly as a result of a more active detection and treatment policy amongst pregnant women in at-risk groups. However, the 20 newly infected children born in the Netherlands indicate that this policy aimed at preventing vertical transmission is not yet being fully implemented.