A big win for New York State as no mother has given birth to a baby who tested positive for HIV that causes AIDS. It has happened for the first time in the state since the record keeping for this purpose has started.

It is a proud moment for the state as statistics reveal that New York two decades back had one of the maximum cases of maternal transmission rates. In 1990, around 1,900 HIV-positive mothers delivered babies and out of them, 700 tested positive for HIV.

Five years back, the number had reduced to 500 and only three babies were infected and today, there is no case. Dan O’Connell, director of the state’s AIDS Institute, has termed the dramatic decline as ‘pretty terrific stuff’.

The decline in the case has been owed to advances made in screenings and medications. O’Connell said that the state has also become more compassionate toward women. Things have also become better since the city has started regular HIV screening of newborns. A significant drop has come in the numbers of mother-to-child transmission.

Experts shared that if HIV is detected during pregnancy and she is immediately put on medication the chance of passing on the disease to her unborn baby is less than 1%. Centers for Disease Control has said that testing and interventions continue to be main measures since the mid-1990s for brining a decline of over 90% in children getting infected in the United States.