Prevention of HIV transmission from mother-to-child in Srinagarind Hospital.

From January 1996 to December 1999, HIV infected pregnant women and their newborns were studied. Informed consent was obtained and HIV-tests were performed after counselling. ZDV for perinatal prophylaxis starting on week 14 to week 36 of gestation and continued throughout pregnancy was given following an ACTG 076 regimen except that during labour, intravenous ZDV was replaced by oral ZDV 300 mgs, given every 3-hours as a loading dose and ZDV syrup 2 mgs/kg every 6 hours for 7 days orally for the newborns. Newborn HIV-Ab and PCR were done at 6 weeks and 6 months after birth. Eighty-four HIV infected pregnant women were enrolled in the study, eighty-three of whom were delivered. The overall transmission rate was 5.2 per cent, with 3/58 children confirmed infected with HIV by at least two positive PCR test results.

Loss to follow-up of patients with abnormal Pap smear: magnitude and reasons.

We studied the magnitude and reasons for loss to follow-up in cases of abnormal Pap smears. We studied 162 women whose Pap smear results were abnormal. The lost follow-up rate was 41.1 per cent (95% CI: 33.1 to 49.3). Reasons for not coming to receive treatment was mostly related to communication such as not receiving informed letters from the hospital (35.6%), not understanding the messages in the informed letters (10.2%), were informed from the hospital's letters that their results were normal (5.1%), and perceiving that the test result was not serious (13.6%). One third of them had traveling-related reasons. There were 25.4 per cent of patients who sought treatment at other hospitals and 8.5 per cent went to see a traditional healer for treatment. The results provide information to prevent such unnecessary loss after having a Pap smear screening test for cervical carcinoma.