Otto has tested HIV-negative

December 1, 1998
Web posted at: 7:51 p.m. EST (0051 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Just four short years ago, doctors in the United States routinely urged HIV-positive women to abort their pregnancies for fear the deadly virus would be passed to their newborns.

Since then, researchers have made significant strides in reducing the number of transmissions from mother to baby. The difference is the HIV inhibitor AZT.

"The studies starting in 1994 showed that you can significantly reduce transmission from 25 percent to less than 8 percent and even 5 percent by taking AZT during pregnancy, delivery, and also (giving AZT) to your baby," said Dr. Yvonne Bryson of the Los Angeles Pediatric AIDS Consortium.

AZT helps reduce the number of HIV transmissions from mother to baby

Although doctors still don't know why some babies never become infected, they now recommend that all HIV-positive mothers take AZT.

Kimberly Richartz, who is married and drug-free, first learned she was HIV-positive when her first child, Megan, became fatally ill after developing AIDS.

She was terrified to learn she was pregnant again.

"My husband and I, our faith believes, we wouldn't have an abortion. So I was really scared," said Richartz, who contracted HIV before her marriage.

During her second trimester, Richartz added AZT to the protease inhibitors she was already taking for HIV.

Some 19 months after Megan's death, she gave birth to a healthy baby, who was given AZT for the first six weeks of his life. Otto, now 2 years old, has repeatedly tested negative for HIV.

CNN Correspondent Jennifer Auther contributed to this report.