A message board I frequent has discussed the smallpox vaccine and the breastfeeding mother recently. From what I understand (and I read in the lactnet archives), the danger is from the virus escaping the innoculation site and infecting people in the same household. Obviously a nursing infant is in a closer proximity than other members of the household. I also understand that antibodies are passed to the infant through the mother's milk, which act in a protective but not necessarily preventive nature. Someone wanted to know (and has sent a question to the CDC) about the possibility of the mother passing antibodies through her milk to keep the child from becoming infected. This brings the question to my mind, how quickly does a mother form antibodies that are passed in the milk after innoculation? Have there been studies on this? I'm looking for general information on vaccination and not necessarily those directly studying smallpox. I also realize that different viruses react differently, but I just want to have a general idea how this works. My guess is that the infant could not receive antibodies in time to help them from getting the virus if they were infected, but I have no science behind this opinion. I do not have access to a medical library at this time, so Internet references or snipits from printed material would be helpful. Thanks, Chanda Taylor *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html