Breast milk kills HIV and blocks its oral transmission in humanized mouse
Date: 20.6.2012
More than 15 percent of new HIV infections occur in children. Without treatment, only 65 percent of HIV-infected children will live until their first birthday, and fewer than half will make it to the age of two. Although breastfeeding is attributed to a significant number of these infections, most breastfed infants are not infected with HIV, despite prolonged and repeated exposure.
New research from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine explores this paradox in a humanized mouse model, demonstrating that breast milk has a strong virus killing effect and protects against oral transmission of HIV.
When the mice were given virus in whole breast milk from HIV-negative women, however, the virus could not be transmitted.
The study appears in the June 14, 2012 issue of the online journal PLoS Pathogens.
