Long-term serological outcome of infants who received frozen-thawed milk from human T-lymphotropic virus type-I positive mothers.
OBJECTIVE
Human T-lymphotropic virus type-I (HTLV-I) infection occurs via mothers' milk during feeding. However, freeze-thaw processing can eliminate the infectivity of the mother's milk of HTLV-I carriers.


METHODS
A long-term follow-up survey was conducted to investigate the HTLV-I infectivity of frozen-thawed mothers' milk among infants whose mothers were HTLV-I seropositive.


RESULTS
Infants fed frozen-thawed mothers' milk did not become HTLV-I antibody-positive up until 1 year old, and all children followed up until an age of 11-12 years were antibody negative.


CONCLUSIONS
This study showed that freeze-thaw processing can eliminate the HTLV-I infectivity of mothers' milk, and that HTLV-I carriers can indirectly feed their infants using frozen-thawed mothers' milk as a way to prevent HTLV-I infection.
Ando
Yoshiya
Y
Wakayama Medical University, Kihoku Hospital, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wakayama, Japan. SNC76080@nifty.com
Ekuni
Yutaka
Y
Matsumoto
Yoshinari
Y
Nakano
Shiro
S
Saito
Kensuke
K
Kakimoto
Kazuhiro
K
Tanigawa
Takuo
T
Kawa
Motohiro
M
Toyama
Takenori
T
D001903:Bottle Feeding; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005615:Freezing; D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D015490:HTLV-I Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000635:transmission*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008895:Milk, Human / Q000821:virology*
D015481:HTLV-I Antibodies