• Int. J. Clin. Pract. · Jul 2021

    Observational Study

    Investigation of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in Milk Produced by Women with COVID-19 and Follow-Up of Their Infants: A Preliminary Study.

    • Talat Kilic, Sebnem Kilic, BerberNurcan KırıcıNKDepartment of Pulmonary Medicine, Education and Research Hospitals of Malatya, Malatya, Turkey., Ayten Gunduz, and Yasemin Ersoy.
    • Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey.
    • Int. J. Clin. Pract. 2021 Jul 1; 75 (7): e14175.

    ObjectivesStudies have shown that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is primarily transmitted from person to person via airborne droplets. It is unclear whether it can be shed into human milk and transmitted to a child via breastfeeding. We investigated the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in human milk samples of 15 mothers with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) and in the throat swab samples of their infants.MethodsThis is a prospective observational study in which breast milk samples were collected from 15 mothers with COVID-19. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the whole human milk samples of the patients was investigated using RT-qPCR. All of the infants underwent a clinical follow-up during their 14-day isolation and their throat swab samples were tested for SARS-CoV-2 RNA.ResultsOf 15 mothers with COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in milk samples from 4 mothers. The throat swab samples from these mothers' infants were found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Three of the four mothers were breastfeeding. In addition, during the 14-day isolation, all but three of the mothers breastfed their infants. Of the 12 breastfed infants, while the test for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in throat swab samples was negative in 6 of the infants, the other 6 infants, who had mild COVID-19 symptoms, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Clinical outcomes of all mothers and infants were uneventful.ConclusionTo our knowledge, this is the first case series with the largest number of cases with SARS-CoV-2 RNA positivity in human milk samples of mothers with COVID-19. However, we believe that the benefits of breastfeeding may outweigh the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in infants.© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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