Highly active antiretroviral therapy started during pregnancy or postpartum suppresses HIV-1 RNA, but not DNA, in breast milk

Background. The ability of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to reduce human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA and DNA in breast milk has not been described. Methods. We compared breast-milk HIV-1 RNA and DNA loads of women in Botswana who received HAART (nevirapine lamivudine and zidovudine) and women who did not received HAART. Results. Women in the HAART group received treatment for a median of 98 days (range 67-222 days) at the time of breast- milk sampling; 23 (88%) of 26 had whole breast-milk HIV-1 RNA loads