Epidemiological, clinical and immunological features of perinatal HIV-1 infection

The Italian Register for HIV Infection in Children was instituted in 1985 by the Italian Association of Pediatrics. Since the beginning of the Human Immunodeficiency virus-type 1 (HIV-1) epidemics (de Martino et al, 1985), italian pediatricians realized that experiences should be met to obtain reliable information. Hitherto, a large data set has been collected and evaluated by homogeneous criteria, and an evaluable body has been acquired of knowledge of epidemiology (Tovo et al, 1987; Tovo et al, 1988; de Martino et al, 1991a; de Martino et al, 1994a; Tovo et al, 1994), mother-to-child transmission and interfering factors (de Martino et al, 1991b; de Martino et al, 1992; Gabiano et al, 1992; de Martino et al, 1994b), immunological features (de Martino et al, 1991c; de Martino et al, 1994a) and clinical manifestations (Tovo et al, 1988; Arico et al, 1991; Tovo et al, 1992; de Martino et al, 1994a; Galli et al, 1995).