title: Breast milk is not a significant source for early Epstein-Barr virus or human herpesvirus 6 infection in infants: a seroepidemiologic study in 2 endemic areas of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I in Japan.
abstract: In order to evaluate the possibility of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) transmission via breast milk, a total of 331 serum specimens collected from bottle-fed and breast-fed children and their mothers, in 2 endemic areas of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) in Japan, were assayed for antibodies to EBV and HHV-6. The seroprevalences of EBV and HHV-6 were over 95% both in the mothers of bottle-fed children and in those of breast-fed children. The seroprevalence of EBV at 12-23 months of age was 54.5% (36/66) and 55.8% (24/43) in breast-fed children and bottle-fed children, respectively. The seroprevalence of HHV-6 at 12-23 months of age was 90.9% (60/66) and 93.0% (40/43) in breast-fed children and bottle-fed children, respectively. No difference was observed between the seroprevalences of EBV and HHV-6 in breast-fed and bottle-fed children at 12-23 months of age. Our seroepidemiologic data indicate that breast milk is not a significant source of early EBV or HHV-6 infection in infancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kusuhara
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takabayashi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hidaka
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Minamishima
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Take
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fujioka
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Osato
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000821:virology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral