Discordant HIV Serological Status in Parents and in a Twin Sibling of an Infant with AIDS

Abstract

An established case of AIDS in a twin infant is reported. Unusual aspects of the case included the HIV seronegativity in the twin the sibling as well as in the mother of the twins; the father of the twins was seropositive. To our knowledge, there has been no such discordant HIV serological reports in the medical literature. Various theories, including the possibility that the seronegative mother was indeed, infected by the seropositive husband and she transmitted the virus in-utero to one of the twins, without herself developing detectable antibodies during a period of low viral replication, are considered in order to explain this unusual HIV transmission in childhood.