Study looking at Zika, HIV infection during pregnancy

The National Institutes of Health is studying the potential risks that infection with the Zika virus might pose for pregnancies in which the mother is also infected with HIV.

According to a release from NIH, at this point, little is known about whether Zika virus infection poses additional risks for maternal or infant health in pregnancies already complicated by HIV. Researchers hope the new study will provide information on whether infection with one of these viruses might increase the risk for infection with the other. Other concerns include whether Zika might interfere with medications that prevent HIV from being passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus and whether infection with the two viruses might increase the risk of damage to the fetal brain, as seen with Zika virus.

Though Zika causes mild or no symptoms in most people, in pregnant women it has been linked to several birth defects, including microcephaly, a condition in which a baby is born with a small head, or the head stops growing after birth.

The CDC reported that, last year, 1,297 pregnant women from 44 states were reported with Zika virus. In Connecticut, 62 pregnant woman tested positive for either Zika or Flavivirus — a family of viruses that includes Zika and other mosquito-borne illnesses — as of May 24.

The NIH researchers plan to enroll pregnant women who are infected with HIV only, with Zika virus only, with HIV and Zika, and women not infected with either virus.

The study is enrolling participants in Puerto Rico and will soon recruit volunteers at sites in the continental United States and Brazil. Study participants will be provided with appropriate treatment. Women will be monitored throughout their pregnancies and for six months after giving birth. Infants will be observed for a year after birth.

The study will be conducted in two parts: In the initial phase, the researchers aim to recruit roughly 200 pregnant women; if their efforts are successful, they will then try to enroll 1,800 additional pregnant women. The study is expected to run from 4 to 6 years.