Living with Discordance: Pregnancy in HIV-discordant Couple

Abstract

Background: The term "serodiscordant couple" refers to "a couple where one partner is human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive and the other HIV-negative. " The approximate patients with HIV/AIDS were 37.9 million people all over the world in 2018 of which, 1.7 million were children (<15-years-old) and 36.2 million were adults. Approximately, 60% of new cases occur in HIV-serodiscordant couples mainly because 30% of married HIV positives have HIV-negative spouse. With the advent of newer and better antiretroviral treatment (ART) to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV, there is increase in the number of serodiscordant couple who are considering natural conception. Pregnancy is a marker of unprotected intercourse rather than the motivation for engaging in unprotected intercourse and indicates an unmet need of counseling for exposure prophylaxis and contraceptive practice in future. Once pregnancy has been diagnosed, there is further need to ensure prevention of parent-to-child transmission of HIV. Strict adherence to protocols and guidelines is mandatory to ensure successful outcome.