Item #4: HIV Antibodies in Babies

All babies born to an HIV-positive mother are born positive, but most become negative within eighteen months.

Farber states that all “babies born to HIV-positive mother are born positive but most become negative within 18 months.”

Farber is clearly confused by the passing on of the mother's antibodies to the child, a natural mechanism that protects the child from infectious disease as its own immune system develops. These passively transferred antibodies are eliminated from the child's system within 18 months at most, usually rather sooner. If a child is infected with HIV, it produces its own antibodies, which persist. After 18 months, if the child still tests HIV-antibody positive, it is almost definitely its own antibodies that are producing the result.

Furthermore, a PCR test for the presence of the virus itself can accurately determine a child's HIV status by about six weeks after birth.

Farber’s statement is perfectly correct. Most babies of HIV-positive mothers become negative within 18 months. A noticeable percentage become HIV-negative after 18 months: “Of those [children] who will lose antibody [to HIV], an estimated 10.2% lose it after 15 months, and 2.5% after 18 months” (European Collaborative Study. Children born to women with HIV-1 infection: natural history and risk of transmission. Lancet. 1991; 337: 253-60).

The use of PCR (’viral load’) is increasingly common for infants because of problems with antibody tests. However, these tests have never been approved for diagnostic purposes:

• “[The Roche Amplicor HIV-1 Monitor Test] is not intended to be used as a screening test for HIV or as a diagnostic test to confirm the presence of HIV infection” (Amplicor HIV-1 Monitor Test. Roche. 1999).
• “The VERSANT HIV-1 RNA 3.0 Assay (bDNA) is not intended for use as a screening assay for HIV infection or as a diagnostic test to confirm the diagnosis of HIV infection” (Summary of Safety and Effectiveness - Versant HIV-1 RNA 3.0 Assay. Versant. 2003 Jul 9)
• “The NucliSens HIV-1 QT assay is not intended to be used as a screening test for HIV-1 nor is it to be used as a diagnostic test to confirm the presence of HIV-1 infection.” (NucliSens HIV-1 QT. Organon Teknika. 2001 Nov 13).