THE AIDS drug zidovudine can retard the transmission of the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from a mother to her foetus, a recent study reveals (Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol 271, No 11).

Trials carried out by the US-based National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) show that of the 53 newborn children who tested positive for HIV, only 13 were born to women on zidovudine, the rest to women on placebos.