Breastfeeding mothers with COVID-19 don’t pass on the virus in their milk, but instead transfer milk-borne antibodies capable of neutralizing the virus, according to a multi-institutional research team led by the University of Idaho.
The team studied 37 milk samples from 18 women diagnosed with COVID-19. None of the samples were found to contain the virus, researchers said, but nearly two-thirds of the samples contained two antibodies known to fight the virus.
“Taken together, our data do not support maternal-to-infant transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via milk,” the researchers reported Tuesday in the journal mBio published by the American Society for Microbiology. “These results support recommendations to continue breastfeeding during mild-to-moderate maternal COVID-19 illness.”
Funded through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the work is led by UI’s Michelle “Shelley” McGuire, a nutrition researcher focused on human milk, and her husband of over 30 years, Mark McGuire, a lactation physiologist.
While the sample size is small, more research is underway. The team has since enrolled 50 women diagnosed with COVID-19 in its study and has followed their progress for as long as two months, according to researchers.
A larger project funded by both the Gates Foundation and the National Science Foundation is also in the works, but Shelley is confident the additional study will “support, expand and confirm on the initial findings.”
Earlier, the McGuires published a review of scientific studies focused on coronaviruses in human milk and found little information exists about their presence or absence. The review was published in Maternal & Child Nutrition in May.
Angela Palermo can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @apalermotweets