SNeural tube defects on decline

The development comes after Tsepamo study presented the 22nd International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2018) last year, suggested that the use of dolutegravir (DTG) in early pregnancy may be linked to neural tube defects (NTDs), serious birth defects of the brain and spine.

According to a press release from Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BOHAIP) Communications Coordinator Tapela Morapedi, the safety of the HIV treatment drug, dolutegravir (DTG), during pregnancy has been one of the most urgent questions in global health for the past year. “The Tsepamo study resulted in some countries stopping their plans to make DTG-based regimes their preferred first-line therapy.  The World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a note of caution about the use of DTG by women of childbearing age as part of its interim guidelines. It also recommended DTG as the preferred first- and second-line antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV,” Morapedi notes.