HIV passed from child to mother

Health workers in Kyrgyzstan have said that sixteen mothers of children with HIV have been infected with the virus through breast-feeding.

Infection from breast feeding is rare, but according to Aids experts it is possible if the baby has mouth sores and the mother has lesions on her nipples.

Fatima Koshokova, director of Rainbow, a non-governmental agency assisting the women, told Associated Press: "These women are having huge financial difficulties. They should be getting nutritious food, but they are not able to get jobs or to provide decent food for themselves or their children."

The women are not entitled to free drugs as they are in the early stages of infection; however the children are receiving treatment, reports the news agency.

A study conducted in Africa in 2007 said that breastfeeding a baby can reduce the risk of mother-to-child HIV transmission as it carries a low transmission risk. They found that there was a four per cent risk of postnatal transmission to infants who were fed on breast milk between the age of six weeks and six moths.