Breast-Feeding Benefits Seen in HIV-Infected
Women
29 Mar 2007
Source: Reuters
By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON, March 29 (Reuters) - African women infected with the AIDS
virus cut the risk of transmitting it to their babies when they fed them
exclusively breast milk and not also formula, animal milk or solid food, a study
found on Thursday.
Researchers in South Africa, writing in the Lancet medical journal,
tracked 1,372 HIV-infected women and found a 4 percent risk of postnatal
transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus to babies fed only breast milk
for six months after birth.
The infants who were breast-fed but also given baby formula or animal
milk were almost twice as likely to get the virus from the mother as those
consuming breast milk alone, the study found. Babies fed solid foods in addition
to breast milk were nearly 11 times more likely to become infected, it found.
The researchers cited a biological reason that might explain the
findings. They said the mucous membrane within the intestines may serve as a
barrier to HIV infection, and that breast milk could reinforce and protect that
lining.
The study also found that the death rate by 3 months of age for babies
who were exclusively breast-fed was less than half that of infants who received
infant formula alone.
Fifteen percent of babies whose HIV-infected mothers did not breast-feed
them died by age 3 months, compared with 6 percent of the babies whose mothers
fed them exclusively through breast-feeding, the study found.
The study indicated that for women in impoverished areas where AIDS is
most prevalent, the health benefits of breast milk appeared to outweigh the risk
of passing on HIV through breast-feeding.
PROS AND CONS
Experts say breast milk provides nutrients an infant needs for the first
months of life as well as antibodies that can protect against bacterial and
viral infections.
But the breast milk of HIV-infected women may contain the virus and risk
infecting the child. Thus, under ideal conditions, experts believe HIV-infected
women should not breast-feed babies. But in sub-Saharan Africa, the epicenter of
the AIDS epidemic, conditions often are not ideal.
Since infant formula is mixed with water before being given to the baby,
woman living in communities with impure water and poor sanitary conditions risk
exposing babies to waterborne illnesses that can cause life-threatening diarrhea
or other ailments.
The study was led by Dr. Hoosen Coovadia and Dr. Nigel Rollins of the
University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
Rollins said an estimated 150,000 to 350,000 babies were infected with
HIV by their mothers through breast milk annually. The study's findings suggest
that if infected women living in impoverished areas exclusively breast-fed their
babies, somewhere around 50,000 to 100,000 lives could be saved annually,
Rollins said.
"For the health and well-being of her child, exclusive breast-feeding is
more than likely going to protect the child both from transmission and the other
risks to her child's survival," Rollins said in a telephone interview.
More than 25 million people have died of AIDS since the incurable disease
was first recognized in 1981. About 40 million people now live with HIV, most in
sub-Saharan Africa.
The researchers were not sure why the addition of solid food particularly
heightened the mother-to-child transmission risk, but noted the larger, more
complex proteins in such foods may help enable the virus to slip through the gut
wall or otherwise facilitate viral entry.