Comparing the gut virome of HIV exposed, uninfected verses HIV unexposed Kenyan infants in the first 18 month of life

This study is nested in the Linda Kizazi, a Nairobi, Kenya-based cohort of mother-infant pairs that aims to characterize how the virome is transmitted vertically when mothers are taking long-term, optimized ART regimens. Women living with HIV who had more than or equal to 6 months of ART and women without HIV were recruited prospectively 1 to 1 in the third trimester of pregnancy and followed through two years postpartum. This cohort provides a unique opportunity to compare health outcomes and the gut virome of HEU children whose mothers with HIV have received long-term ART and their HUU peers. We aim to compare longitudinally the taxonomic richness and diversity of the gut virome in Kenyan infants that are HEU versus HUU over the first 18 months of life.