How exclusive breastfeeding can reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission

For a long time now I’ve been trying to find out why/how exclusive breastfeeding can reduce the risk of mother-to-child (MTC) HIV transmission; so far I’ve only known that it did but not why or how. Today I finally managed to find some answers.

First I found two scientific papers:

Coovadia, H., et al., 2007, Mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 infection during exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of life: an intervention cohort study.

Coutsoudis, A., et al., 1999, Influence of infant-feeding patterns on early mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1 in Durban, South Africa: a prospective cohort study.

Then I found a news article that contained a quotation from Professor Coovadia which very nicely explained the (first) paper.

Exclusive Breastfeeding Protects Newborns from HIV/AIDS

First, ‘exclusive breastfeeding means the babies are fed only breast milk and no solid foods, formula or even water’. Exclusive breastfeeding is typically encouraged for the first 6 months of a baby’s life.

Thereafter, Professor Coovadia explains that:

The argument is that if you give a very small baby more solid stuff to ingest, it damages the baby’s gut (stomach), which is at a very early stage of development. And the gut is a really protective organ…. And then the HIV that’s in the mothers’ breast milk goes through the baby’s damaged gut and into it.

Interesting eh?

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