Elective cesarean delivery plus short-course lamivudine and zidovudine for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of elective cesarean delivery plus a lamivudine-zidovudine prophylaxis regimen on non-breastfeeding mothers with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and their infants. Forty-six antiretroviral-naı̈ve, pregnant women with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 were included. The prophylactic regimen was a lamivudine-zidovudine tablet (150 mg/300 mg) twice daily from week 34 of pregnancy until cesarean delivery at week 38 of gestation, preoperative intravenous zidovudine, and neonatal zidovudine syrup for 4 weeks. At weeks 34 and 38 of gestation, the median maternal viral loads were, respectively, 3.65 log 10 copies/mL (range, 2.34-4.70 log 10 copies/mL) and 2.51 log 10 copies/mL (range, 2.04-3.66 log 10 copies/mL; P