When HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) was first discovered as a disease in 1980, those affected were extremely stigmatized. HIV/AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) was first reported among homosexuals and intravenous drug users, leading the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to label the disease gay-related immunodeficiency, as “gay” individuals were synonymous with “drug users”” due to their similar activities in the 1980s (Stine 22). However, it soon became clear that the female population was just as susceptible to contracting HIV as the male population. HIV-positive women were first reported in the late 1980s. AIDS is the final stage of HIV in which the immune system is compromised. The virus causes such severe damage to the immune system that even the simplest yeast infection can be deadly because the body will not have a functioning immune system. HIV-positive women who are still healthy and have not developed AIDS may have a normal pregnancy. However, HIV-positive mothers may transmit the virus to their fetus during pregnancy, known as mother-to-child transmission (MTC). Stoto states that in the United States, more than 6,000 HIV-infected women give birth each year, and it is estimated that approximately one-third give birth to HIV-positive babies (Stoto1). Babies born HIV positive without any medication will not live to adolescence and up to 50% may die within the first year. Stine points out that without drugs, “children with HIV lived to an average age of 9” (Stine 347). This became a serious concern in the scientific community because of the risks it posed to children. In the United States, the HIV epidemic reached its peak in the 1980s, when the number of infected people reached 130,000 people per year. Infected women... at the center of the document... or Disease Control and Prevention, 2007. Web. 4 February 2014. François-Xavier Bagnoud Center and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Eliminating perinatal transmission of HIV.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010. Web. 08 February 2014. Mofenson, L. “Public Health Outcomes: Reducing Perinatal Transmission of HIV Infection---United States, 1985--2005.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, June 1, 2006. Web. February 8, 2014.Stine, Gerald James. AIDS Update 2012: An annual overview of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.Stoto, Michael A., Donna A. Almario, and Marie C. McCormick. Reducing the odds: Preventing perinatal transmission of HIV in the United States. Washington, DC: National Academy, 1999. Print.