Effects and Burden of HIV, Viral Hepatitis and STIs on Pregnant Women and Infants
Infection with HIV, viral hepatitis or STIs can affect the wellbeing of the mother, the pregnancy outcome, and child. HIV, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and syphilis infection can have particularly serious health consequences for both mothers and infants.
In 2020 in the United States, 56% of the diagnoses of HIV infection among children aged less than 13 years were among Blacks/African American people, 16% were among Hispanic/Latino people, and 21% were among White people.1
Infants with perinatal hepatitis B are more likely to have a younger mother and be of Asian/Pacific Islander race.2
Rates of hepatitis C diagnosed at delivery in hospitals are substantially higher among women with opioid use disorder, as a result of the opioid crisis and related increases in HCV infection.3
The highest diagnosis rates of congenital syphilis during 2020 were among American Indian/Alaska Native people followed by non-Hispanic Black people and occurred among people in the U.S. southern and western regions.4
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV Surveillance Report, 2020; vol. 33. http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance.html. Figure 31. Published May 2022. Accessed June 28, 2022.
- Schillie S, Talker T, Veselsky S, et al. Outcomes of infants born to women infected with hepatitis B. Pediatrics 2015;135(5):e1141-1147.
- Ko JY, Haight SC, Schillie SF, Bohm MK, Dietz PM. National Trends in Hepatitis C Infection by Opioid Use Disorder Status Among Pregnant Women at Delivery Hospitalization — United States, 2000–2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2019;68:833–838.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance 2020. Accessed June 28, 2022.