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The infection for HIV/AIDS first came to light in the early 1980s and soon started to affect a huge number of infants, most of them born from HIV-positive mothers. Considering as pediatric AIDS all those cases detected in children under thirteen, the first recognised case of pediatric AIDS occurred in New York (USA) in 1982. In our country [Spain] the first case was a haemophilic boy who in 1982 contracted the virus through a blood transfusion and in 1984 the first case of vertical transmission (mother-to-child) was diagnosed. Since then, the number of new infections for HIV has rapidly increased, in particular in developing countries lacking in resources. In our country, AIDS transmission is rising through sexual transmission (particulary in women and teenagers because unprotected sexual activity without using preservatives is still very common).

In the more advanced countries, during the 1980s the number of children infected by AIDS continued rising until the beginning of the 1990s, when the infection rate stabilised in adults and children.

Subsequently, as from 1995-96, with the first antiretroviral drugs, a progressive decrease of the vertical transmission was experienced until now where the rate of mother-to-child transmission is of 1.8%-1.5% since pregnancies are controlled and women receive antiretroviral treatment; Infants, also receive treatment for several weeks following birth. (The rate of vertical transmission is much higher if there is no control in women during pregnancy, delivery and subsequently during breastfeeding, increassing to 18- 25%. We should remember that HIV can be transmitted from mother to child before and during birth and through breastfeeding).

Spain is one of the European countries with more children diagnosed with pediatric AIDS after Romania, where a high transmission rate occurred in orphanages and hospitals due to contaminated blood transfusions. At present, thanks to drugs and a better control of pregnant women, this trend has reverted although it is necessary to keep on working and making all efforts in this direction.

The HIV infection in pediatric age is more severe than in adult age; in the absence of a treatment, 1/4 of affected children develop AIDS (the most advanced stages of HIV) before 12 months and cannot survive beyond three years of age. Early diagnose of HIV infection and the introduction of antiretroviral drugs has changed the natural history of the infection. There are areas in our planet where HIV is leaving childhood in a situation of high risk at bio-psycho-social levels. In our country, the HIV infection in infants and children has substantially changed if we compare it with other countries or with the first years of the AIDS pandemy. Even though there is still no cure, thanks to the research and awareness of the disease, as well as the advent of combination antiretroviral therapy and a close clinical follow-up, many children born infected with HIV/AIDS today have the opportunity to grow up healthy and with long-term survival perspectives.