Passing an illness via breastmilk?

Chookie wrote,

I would be betting that Iphigenia meant Hep B. Is Hep C the one that is
passed via eating from common dishes?

AFAIK Hep C is only passed through bodily fluids (blood, sexual contact, etc.).

You may be thinking of Hep A.

I am not a doctor and could be completely wrong about all this, of course.

Mary Ellen
Will (8 until tomorrow!)
Matthew (6)
Margaret (2)

Chookie wrote:

I would be betting that Iphigenia meant Hep B. Is Hep C the one that
is passed via eating from common dishes?

I did mean B. That was a d'oh moment for me...
I think C is only passed through bodily fluids (dirty needles, transfusions,
unsafe sex).

--
tristyn
www.tristyn.net
"i have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
i do not think that they will sing to me."

(DGoree) wrote in message ...
Chookie wrote,

I would be betting that Iphigenia meant Hep B. Is Hep C the one that is
passed via eating from common dishes?

AFAIK Hep C is only passed through bodily fluids (blood, sexual contact, etc.).

You may be thinking of Hep A.

I am not a doctor and could be completely wrong about all this, of course.

Heh heh -- I am a doctor! Could still be completely wrong, but don't
think I am in this case:
Hep A -- Passed through the fecal-oral route, so in most cases, by
contaminated food and water.
Hep B -- Passed by blood and body fluids (including breastmilk),
transmissable by breastfeeding, but Hep B immune globulin at birth and
Hep B vaccination can protect the baby.
Hep C -- passed by the same means as Hep B, but more by blood than by
other means. Breastfeeding by Hep C positive moms may carry a low
risk of transmission to the baby, though it appears that it's very
low. For a Hep C positive woman the question of whether or not to
breastfeed is an extraordinarily personal one, since there is no
vaccine and not much in the way of treatment in the unlikely event
that the baby does get infected.

Kate
and the Bug, 8 months

(Joshua Levy) wrote in message . com...

I think it is likely that all (or almost all)
viruses can be transmitted via BM, but not all have been specifically
studied.

Well now wait a minute. The viruses you cite that are known to be
transmitted by breastmilk are all blood-borne. There's at least a
physiological plausibility to how they would get into breastmilk and
be potentially transmissable. However most of the viral infections
people deal with day-to-day are respiratory or gut bugs. I have no
more hard data than you do, but it's a huge leap to assume a common
cold or rotavirus would attain adequate blood levels to make adequate
breastmilk levels to infect the kid. Maybe it happens with some, but
I think you're on really shaky ground to assume it happens with many
in the absence of any evidence.

Kate
and the Bug, 8 months

wrote:

I have no
more hard data than you do, but it's a huge leap to assume a common
cold or rotavirus would attain adequate blood levels to make adequate
breastmilk levels to infect the kid.

And how you'd distinguish that from the usual vectors (fecal-oral transmission,
sneezing, etc.), is anyone's guess. I mean, who can handle a dripping cold and
a baby and NOT engage in behavior likely to transmit the infection? There are
only so many times a day you can wash your hands.

--Helen

(H Schinske) wrote:
wrote:

I have no
more hard data than you do, but it's a huge leap to assume a common
cold or rotavirus would attain adequate blood levels to make adequate
breastmilk levels to infect the kid.

And how you'd distinguish that from the usual vectors (fecal-oral
transmission, sneezing, etc.), is anyone's guess. I mean, who can handle
a dripping cold and a baby and NOT engage in behavior likely to transmit
the infection? There are only so many times a day you can wash your
hands.

It's especially hard once the baby gets to that grabby stage--my son now
finds noses and mouths, in particular, to be irresistible.

--
z e l d a b e e @ p a n i x . c o m http://NewsReader.Com/
http://mysite.verizon.net/vze1vy2t/sprogly/

(H Schinske) wrote in message ...
wrote:

I have no
more hard data than you do, but it's a huge leap to assume a common
cold or rotavirus would attain adequate blood levels to make adequate
breastmilk levels to infect the kid.

And how you'd distinguish that from the usual vectors (fecal-oral transmission,
sneezing, etc.), is anyone's guess. I mean, who can handle a dripping cold and
a baby and NOT engage in behavior likely to transmit the infection? There are
only so many times a day you can wash your hands.

Well, that shouldn't be too hard to control for. Round up a passel of
breastfeeding moms and a passel of formula feeding moms, follow them
for a certain period of time, and see how many babies get sick with
viral respiratory infections or diarrhea/vomiting shortly after the
mom does. If the virus is transmitted more in the breastfed group,
whether it's transmitted by ingestion of breastmilk or a behavioral
factor related to bf'ing (eg, dad can't take over as easily while
mom's sick) is beside the point -- it's still higher in breastfeeding
pairs. If it makes no difference or is higher in ff'd kids, then
there you are.

I think the challenge is finding anyone who'd fund the study, since
it's not really a life-or-death matter either way and there's no money
to be made :-)

Kate
and the Bug, 8 months

In DQQVb.442045$JQ1.382466@pd7tw1no,
Dawn Lawson wrote:

* I don't know of any such list. The research tends to be done virus
* by virus so you'll find one paper on HIV via breastmilk, another on
* West Nile, and so on.
*
*Yup, that's what I was asking you for. Where did YOU get the
*information that you're passing along?

I am not Josh, but you could start using PubMed and searching for the
keywords "breastfeeding" and "name of virus you are interested in" where
that second quote contains the actual name of the virus you are interested
in.

* * If it is a non-flashy sickness, you wont find
* anything at all. I think it is likely that all (or almost all)
* viruses can be transmitted via BM, but not all have been specifically
* studied.
*
*you think.
*Thanks.
*that tells me about what I want to know.

Huh.
interesting. He's not supposed to have an opinion?

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large

In ,
JoFromOz wrote:

*It is untrue that Hep C passes through breast milk. It is only when there
*is a breach of the skin on the nipples that women with Hep C are advised not
*to feed their babies, as there is a risk of the baby recieving some blood.

Uh, that can't possibly be true. I have personally seen the bloody milk
dripping from my own nipples on more than one occasion. I wouldn't have
known I was bleeding into the milk had I not seen the pink-red milk and/or
the blood clots in the milk by random chance when I happened to be
expressing milk. Granted at the time I had a lot going on, breastwise, but
it does happen. And what if I had hep C at the time, and my son was
teething?


--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large

(Akuvikate) wrote in message . com...
(H Schinske) wrote in message ...
wrote:

I have no
more hard data than you do, but it's a huge leap to assume a common
cold or rotavirus would attain adequate blood levels to make adequate
breastmilk levels to infect the kid.

And how you'd distinguish that from the usual vectors (fecal-oral transmission,
sneezing, etc.), is anyone's guess. I mean, who can handle a dripping cold and
a baby and NOT engage in behavior likely to transmit the infection? There are
only so many times a day you can wash your hands.

Well, that shouldn't be too hard to control for. Round up a passel of
breastfeeding moms and a passel of formula feeding moms, follow them
for a certain period of time, and see how many babies get sick with
viral respiratory infections or diarrhea/vomiting shortly after the
mom does.

You could do all the work you describe, or you could just study HIV.
Since HIV is not transmitted via casual contact, you don't have to
control for those factors. (You do need to control for transmission
pre-birth, but that is an easier thing to do.)

The HIV studies (there are many) seem to agree on a transmission rate
of about 15%.

I think the challenge is finding anyone who'd fund the study, since
it's not really a life-or-death matter either way and there's no money
to be made :-)

Another reason why this gets studied in the context of AIDS.
There is money there, and it is a life or death matter.

Joshua