Freeze-thawing of breast milk does not prevent cytomegalovirus transmission to a preterm infant
- 1Children’s Hospital, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
- 2Institute of Medical Virology and Epidemiology of Viral Diseases, University Hospital of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
- 3Institute of Virology and Immunobiology, University of Würzburg
- 4Department of Medical Biometry, University Hospital of Tübingen
- Correspondence to:
Dr Maschmann
Children’s Hospital, University of Würzburg, Josef-Schneider-Str 2, 97080 Würzburg, Germany; jens.maschmann{at}mail.uni-wuerzburg.de
- Accepted 15 January 2006
Abstract
Freezing human milk is recommended to inactivate cytomegalovirus (CMV). A case of a preterm infant exclusively receiving frozen breast milk from his CMV seropositive mother showed that storage of breast milk for two months at −20°C did not prevent symptomatic postnatal CMV infection.
Footnotes
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Funding: this study was supported by a grant from Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Bonn, Germany (DFG HA 1559/2-1).
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Competing interests: none declared
