Breast-feeding and Transmission of HIV-1.

Breast-feeding substantially increases the risk of HIV-1 transmission from mother to child, and although peripartum antiretroviral therapy prophylaxis significantly decreases the risk of mother-to-child transmission around the time of delivery, this approach does not affect breast-feeding transmission. Increased maternal RNA viral load in plasma and breast milk is strongly associated with increased risk of transmission through breast-feeding, as is breast health, and it has been suggested that exclusive breast-feeding could be associated with lower rates of breast-feeding transmission than mixed feeding of both breast- and other milk or feeds. Transmission through breast-feeding can take place at any point during lactation, and the cumulative probability of acquisition of infection increases with duration of breast-feeding.