SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – The discovery of HIV in two newborns last year underscores what officials say is the need for pregnant women to be routinely tested for HIV in South Dakota.

The two cases were among 34 new cases of HIV or AIDS in the state in 2008, according to the state Health Department.

“The physicians absolutely need to keep this in mind and institute routine testing. These cases could have been prevented,” said Lon Kightlinger, epidemiologist for the state health department.

If an expectant mother tests positive, a drug regime can be used to prevent the mother from infecting the baby, he said.

The health department is urging physicians to routinely test, and has advertised the message in a trade magazine aimed at doctors. The national Centers for Disease Control also has a campaign called “one test, two lives,” urging that standard care include HIV testing.

Five other infants in South Dakota have tested positive since 1985.

Some doctors have started making the test routine for expectant mothers.

At Sanford Health Systems in Sioux Falls, doctors adopted a policy earlier last year of screening all prenatal women unless they opt out, said Dr. Dan Heinemann, chief medical officer for Sanford’s health services division.

“If we identify that a woman is HIV positive, treating her during her pregnancy ... is so successful you can pretty much say that child will be born without HIV,” he said.

During prenatal care, the screening is part of a routine blood test. It’s inexpensive and typically is covered by insurance, Heinemann said.

“Two is too many, especially since we’ve got such good treatment,” he said of the most recent cases.

Dr. Peter Van Eerden, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Sanford USD Medical Center, said his office has been routinely testing women for years unless they opt out. “I would say most people get it (the test),” he said.

Medicine that is given to mothers who test positive can reduce the likelihood of transmission of HIV to the baby to less than 1 percent, he said.