Review of four unusual cases of HIV-positive infants; cryptic pregnancy scam and mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract Background Cryptic pregnancy is defined as lack of awareness of pregnancy until the last weeks of gestation or during labour and delivery but in cryptic pregnancy scam, mothers feigned pregnancies that never existed. Methods We report a total of four cases of HIV infected infants said to have been delivered by HIV negative mothers. All the mothers are above 40 years of age with a range of 9 to 18 years of infertility in marriage. The cryptic pregnancy scam was neither confirmed by pregnancy test nor obstetric scan. Diagnosis of HIV infection was made at infancy following positive rapid test and HIV antigen test. Conclusion The menace of cryptic pregnancy scam in Nigeria is setting back the gains of HIV prevention and control. Desperate infertile women are made to believe that they are pregnant while babies are bought and brought to them at said date of delivery. These mothers never had proper antenatal care and so were never screened for HIV. Cryptic pregnancy scam is real amongst desperate barren women who become easy prey to the perpetuators. Awareness creation and sensitization on its harm is advocated.