A study that has just been published in the journal PLos Pathogens states that breast milk blocks the HIV virus and also slows its transmission from mother to son.
The objective of the study was to demonstrate in vivo that breast milk has a powerful protective factor that slows the spread of HIV virus.
This is an investigation carried out by a team from the University of North Carolina that wanted to solve two paradoxes related to oral HIV infections in breastfed babies.
The first is that breast milk in vitro kill the HIV virus but in vivo You can spread some babies. The second is that it is found that, although most mother-child infections occur in the womb or during childbirth, there are also infections by mouth, while there are children who are never infected despite prolonged breastfeeding.
They have worked with a mouse with a humanized model that is created by introducing human tissues into the organs responsible for the immune system. They found that in the oral mucosa and in the upper digestive tract of these mice there were cells similar to those found in humans and that are related to oral infections.
They also demonstrated that these mice were infected orally with the HIV virus but that the potential contagion disappeared if exposure to the virus occurred when it was contained in human milk.
The results of the study have allowed researchers to affirm that, at least in the humanized mouse model, human breast milk can have a powerful contagion inhibitory effect through the virus and infected cells.
Also, provide retroviral mice before exposures by different routes, finding that a very effective protective effect occurred, so this is pointed out as a good way to prevent oral infections.
The case is that it is possible to think that if it is true, as they affirm in this study, that It is not milk that infects breastfed babies it must be another substance that comes into contact with your oral mucosa and digestive tract.
I venture to propose that they be small drops of blood or saliva from the mother, since the infected cells that come from the milk, by themselves, seem to have been shown to be not a cause of infection. That would explain the reason why there are children who, being breastfed by infected mothers, never become infected.
In addition, known the protective factor of the breastmilkIt may be a source of future research for prevention once the substances responsible for the stoppage of infection have been identified. And it is that the properties of breast milk are almost a miracle.
The authors of this novel research encourage further investigation of the form of oral infection to prevent children from becoming infected since it seems that it is now clear that breast milk is not responsible for HIV infections.
