Some 450 newborns in Peru are infected with AIDS transmitted by their mothers every year, the country's Health Ministry said in a statement Thursday.
The infection happens during the period of pregnancy, childbirth or lactation, the ministry's experts explained.
Of the 600,000 women who get pregnant annually in Peru, some 1,800 carry the AIDS virus and most of them ignore the pandemic, said the statement.
As the newborns suffer a higher risk of infection by the AIDS virus during childbirth when the baby has direct contact with the mother's fluids, doctors usually practice Caesarean birth to avoid it, experts said.
Mothers infected with AIDS have to avoid breast-feeding their babies since their milk may contain the AIDS virus, experts said.
Source: Xinhua
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