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ELECTRONIC ARTICLE: Cynthia Chase, Janice Ware, Joan Hittelman, Ileana Blasini, Antolin Llorente, Elizabeth Anisfeld, Clemente Diaz, Mary Glenn Fowler, Jack Moye, Leslie I. Kaligh, and for the Women and Infants Transmission Study Group Early Cognitive and Motor Development Among Infants Born to Women Infected With Human Immunodeficiency Virus Pediatrics 2000; 106: e25 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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What is the real culprit?

Cory Mermer   (7 August 2000)

Author Response

Cynthia Chase   (18 August 2000)

What is the real culprit? 7 August 2000
Cory Mermer, Medical Researcher/Writer Send letter to journal: Re: What is the real culprit? camermer{at}home.com Cory Mermer	I am curious as to how the cognitive or motor developmental problems can be attributed to the virus itself and not to the various drugs which the mothers were taking. To accurately determine this, wouldn't it require all mothers in the study to not have taken any medications or at least to have an unmedicated control group to see if any effects are being caused by the drugs?
Author Response 18 August 2000
Cynthia Chase, Pediatric Neuropsychologist Dept. of Psychiatry, Boston Medical Center Send letter to journal: Re: Author Response cynthia.chase{at}bmc.org Cynthia Chase	It is not our impression on a clinical basis that drugs taken by mothers prenatally adversely affect motor or cogntive development in their infants. This study has demonstrated a very signficant decrease intransmission rate as the result of prenatal treatment and we would predict that such treatment also would be assocated with a lower rte of abnormality in mental and motor performance in infants. However, you are correct that this needs to be examined in future data analyses, both for HIV-infected and HIV-exposed but uninfected infants.