title: Prevalence of ochratoxin a in human milk in the khorrambid town, fars province, South of iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ochratoxins belong to a group of mycotoxins produced as the secondary metabolites by filamentous fungi, such as Aspergillus and Penicillium. These toxins may be teratogenic, mutagenic, hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic, and may have immunosuppressive effects and pose a serious health problems to exposed humans and animals.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study aimed to determine the level of ochratoxin A (OTA) in the samples of mothers' milk in the Khorrambid Town, Fars Province, south of Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between June and July 2011, samples of human milk were obtained from 87 mothers. The samples were diluted by absolute methanol at 1:4 ratio and after centrifugation, the supernatant was directly used to determine the level of OTA using competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 87 human milk samples, 84 (96.6%) samples had positive results for OTA at a mean level of 24.57 ± 13.6 ng/L. According to the European Union Standard, 14 (16%) positive samples revealed more than the maximum limit of 40 ng/L for ochratoxin (range, 1.6-60 ng/L).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Presence of OTA in the milk of mothers denotes a probable consumption of a contaminated foods. Therefore, regular monitoring of foods for presence of mycotoxins for lactating mothers seems necessary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Parvin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dehghan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Mycology and Parasitology, Basic sciences in Infectious Diseases Research Center, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Keyvan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pakshir
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rafiei
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chadeganipour
authors.affiliation: Deputy of Research, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, IR Iran.
authors.forename: Mojtaba
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akbari
keywords: Human; Milk; Mycotoxins; Ochratoxin A