ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 4, 1993                   TAG: 9302040036
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BOSTON                                LENGTH: Short


NEW TEST DETERMINES INFANT AIDS QUICKER

A new test allows mothers infected with the AIDS virus to learn a few days after giving birth whether they have passed the virus to their babies.

Women infected with HIV have about a 1-in-3 chance of giving the virus to their babies before or during birth. Until now, doctors had to wait months before they could learn whether the baby had the virus.

Doctors at the University of California at Los Angeles tested the new approach on 29 babies born to infected women and found that it accurately revealed HIV status in all of them. These doctors used a version of the test made by Coulter Corp. of Hialeah, Fla. Other manufacturers include Du Pont Pharmaceuticals and Abbott Laboratories.

- Associated Press



by Archana Subramaniam by CNB