ABSTRACT
Antiretroviral drugs are used in children for two very different purposes. During the perinatal period, they are used to prevent mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). They are also used to treat children already infected with the virus. Although the pathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and the general virological and immunological principles underlying the use of antiretroviral therapy are similar for all patients infected with HIV, there are unique considerations for HIV-infected infants, children, and adolescents. Children, like adults, have benefited from recent progress in therapy due to the development of increasingly effective anti-retroviral molecules. However, as in the case of many other drugs used to treat children, most antiretroviral drugs have still not been adequately assessed in this population [1]. It is, therefore, important to determine the pharmacokinetic and pharmocodynamic characteristics of each molecule in children to optimise the risk/benefit ratio and to improve the treatment of these patients.
