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

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 in fection should be included in the differential diagnosis of children with symptoms compatible with HIV infection even when parental HIV history is not suggestive.