More than 15 percent of new HIV infections occur in children. Without treatment, only 65 percent of HIV-infected children will live until their first birthday, and fewer than half will make it to the age of two. Although breastfeeding is attributed to a significant number of these infections, most breastfed infants are not infected with HIV, despite prolonged and repeated exposure.
HIV researchers have been left with a conundrum: does breast milk transmit the virus or protect against it?
New research from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine explores this paradox in a humanized mouse model, demonstrating that breast milk has a strong virus killing effect and protects against oral transmission of HIV.
"This study provides significant insight into the amazing ability of breast milk to destroy HIV and prevent its transmission," said J. Victor Garcia, PhD, senior author on the study and professor of medicine in the UNC Center for Infectious Diseases and the UNC Center for AIDS Research. "It also provides new leads for the isolation of natural products that could be used to combat the virus."
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