How soon will an infected unborn baby show symptons of HIV/AIDS?

How soo will a baby born by an infected mother starts to show the signs of this dreaded disease? How long can a baby born with this disease live? Most especially if the mother did not take any anti-retroviral drug when she was pregnant.

If the mother is not taking any antiretrovirals, the risk that the baby is infected is STILL only about 1 in 3. Even if the mother is only treated in labor the risks to the baby can be dramatically reduced- giving a few doses of antiretroviral medication just before delivery, and antiretroviral medicine afterwards reduces the risk to the infant to about 10%.

There is little in the appearance or health of the baby at birth that tells you whether its infected or not. Early treatment for infected babies is VERY important, however and doctors will follow with frequent tests. They will be able to tell from these tests whether the infant is infected long before there are signs of illness in the baby.

Formerly, if no treatment was given to infected infants, about 1/3 of them would get sick before the first birthday and have lots of illnesses affter that, often dying by age 2. About 2/3 of them used to remain well for longer periods- often years. These outcomes are MUCH better now in the age of effective treatment. Many infected kids grow up health to all appearances. Survival until adulthood is now the expectation.

I believe it's *possible* for a baby not to be infected w/ an infected mother.

Sometimes it take years. My understanding is the babies might not never develope the disease.

I dont know.

Impossible to tell. The good news is that even when an infected mother is not treated, there is only a 25% that the baby will become infected. With the use of antivirals that percentage drops down to 1%. Hope that helps. I also suggest that you talk to your Doctor as this site is not a substitute for medical advice.

A baby's blood test will indicate it it's been infected with the virus. It could begin to show symptoms through other illnesses as soon as it is born. It depends on the baby's immune system.

Sometimes, babies that are HIV negative are born very sick, so it stands to reason that an infected baby could be born very sick as well.

It all depends on individual immunity. The mother passes on some of her immunity the first few days of breastfeeding in a substance found in breast milk called colostrum. Some HIV infected babies will die as early as three months after birth, but with good health care and a proper diet, they can live as old as their early teens.

The child may not be infected at all as hard as it is to believe the best thign would be to have the child tested. It might not affected the child for years. The child is not going ot have a sign on her head saying she HIV positive. When she or he was born the dr should have done extensive blood work if they knew about the mothers condition.