Influence of breast milk on nosocomial rotavirus infections in infants

Abstract

To prevent nosocomial rotavirus infections in hospitalized children with various non-gastrointestinal diseases, 30 children (mean age five months) received 200 ml of fresh human milk per day in addition to the normal diet for their age. A matched group of children on formula diet served as a control. Fecal samples were routinely screened for rotavirus by a commercial ELISA test. In stools containing rotavirus, the virus RNA segments were analysed by gel electrophoresis to identify the different rotavirus strains. Clinical symptoms were recorded daily and quantified by a score system. Human milk had no effect on the frequency of nosocomial rotavirus infections: ten infected children were fed with human milk and seven were not. However, the severity of the clinical symptoms was clearly reduced: the mean score of clinical symptoms was only half as great and the number of mild or asymptomatic infections was doubled in the group receiving fresh human milk.