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Isolation of Leukocytes from Human Breast Milk for Use in an Antibody-dependent Cellular Phagocytosis Assay of HIV Targets
08:12

Isolation of Leukocytes from Human Breast Milk for Use in an Antibody-dependent Cellular Phagocytosis Assay of HIV Targets

Published on: September 6, 2019

Breast milk transmission of viral disease

E R Stiehm1, M A Keller

  • 1UCLA Department of Pediatrics, UCLA Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Advances in Nutritional Research
|January 25, 2002
PubMed

Breast milk transmission of maternal viral infection is well established for CMV and HIV-1. In the case of CMV, this usually does not pose a risk to the infant since serious disease is prevented by placentally transferred maternal antibody. However, in HIV infection, breast-feeding increases the risk of maternal-fetal transmission by about 25% with late breast-feeding (after six months of age) constituting a particular risk. In other maternal viral diseases, e.g., other herpes viruses, parvovirus, hepatitis A, B and C, and rubella, the virus is often demonstrated in the breast milk, but transmission is very rare. The highest risk is during an acute viral infection at the time of birth, since the breast milk has a high titer of virus, and a lack of antibody to neutralize the organism.

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