Hello, My name is Carole Walker and I am a student at the University of North Dakota. I have been reading the Lactnet messages for about six weeks now and have been amazed and excited about all the information I have been acquiring. I am posting this message due to my own interest in AIDS research and also to find out any new research concerning AIDS and breast-feeding that I may have missed. I first want to say that I searched the archives to find out what has been discussed in the past concerning AIDS and breast-feeding. The general agreement by several lactnetters and also stated by (Quintanilla, 1996) is as follows: "in developing countries the advantages of breast-feeding outweigh the possible risk of infection with HIV." I very much agree with the above statement but I also found an interesting article that says "Perhaps there is a place for infant formula distribution, even in impoverished countries. However, before policy makers embrace artificial feeding as the "solution" to this tragic situation, the feasibility and ramifications of such a policy must be discussed." (Nommsen-Rivers & Heinig 1997). The authors of the article than go on to discuss the different questions that arise when dealing with this issue. I have to add that this article by no means is in favor of ABM, what I got out of it though is that we must be knowledgeable and up to date on the latest information concerning AIDS and BF as well as AIDS and ABM. One other thing I wanted to bring up was an article about Zidovudine and breast-feeding. I hadn't seen anything about it in the archives (I could have missed it) and wanted to share the information. The most significant data from the article is as follows: "As compared with infants born to untreated mothers, the risk of acquiring HIV-1 infection by infants of AZT-treated mothers may be lowered by a possible effect of intrapartum AZT on viral load in colostrum and/or early milk." (Van de Perre, et al. 1997). The authors note that the mechanisms of how the AZT reduces the risk of MTCT of HIV-1 has yet to be determined. I had better quit writing as this is getting long. Any comments would be appreciated. Thank you. REFERENCES Nommsen-Rivers, L. & Heinig, M.J. (1997). HIV transmission via breast-feeding: Reflections on the issues. Journal of Human Lactation 13(3), 179-181. Quintanilla, K. (1996). Can HIV be transmitted through breast milk? Nursing Times 92(31), 35-37. Van de Perre, P., Meda, N., Cartous, M., Mandelbrot, L., Leroy, V., Dabis, F., & Salamon, R. (1997). Zidovudine and breast-feeding. AIDS Patient Care and STD's 11(3), 4-6.