All issues > Volume 44(5); 2001

Case Report

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 2001;44(5):592-596. Published online May 15, 2001.

An Infant with Vertical Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Detected Due to Failure to Thrive

Byung Wook BW Eun¹, Ho Kyung HK Lim², Yun Kyung YK Kim¹, Yuong Ho YH Kwak¹, Jung Youn JY Hong¹, He Sun HS Jung¹, Kyung Mo KM Kim³, Hoan Jong HJ Lee³

¹Departments of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
²Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Jungang Univeirsity, Korea
³Departments of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, College of Medicine, Ulsan University

Correspondence Hoan Jong HJ Lee ,Email: hoanlee@plaza.snu.ac.kr

Abstract

Five to fifteen percent of patients affected by human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) are children in developing countries. In Korea, most of HIV infections in children have been transfusion-related, and cases of vertical transmission have been very rare so far and are usually suspected due to a maternal positive history. We experienced a case of vertical transmission of HIV in a 19 month- old girl, incidentally diagnosed in the process of work-up for failure to thrive without suspicion from maternal HIV history. With the increasing number of adult HIV patients in Korea, HIV infection should be included in the differential diagnosis of children with symptoms compatible with HIV infection even when parental HIV history is not suggestive.

Keywords :Vertical transmission, HIV infection, Failure to thrive, Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome