Moms Pre-Chewing Food Gave HIV to Kids

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For the first time, health officials report that the AIDS virus can be spread by a mother pre-chewing her infant's food, a practice mainly seen in poor, developing countries

Three such cases were reported in the United States from 1993-2004, government scientists said Wednesday in a presentation in Boston at a scientific conference

It's blood, not saliva, that carried the virus because in at least two of the cases the infected mothers had bleeding gums or mouth sores, according to investigators at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

they are asking parents and caregivers with HIV not to pre-chew infants' food, and are trying to educate doctors about this kind of transmission

mothers do it because they have no access to baby food or a means of pulverizing food for toothless infants

All three children were infected with HIV at a time they would have been teething and had inflamed gums

caregiver and a child must have wounds in their mouth