Rachel Myr wrote:
>Also, I was taught here that IgG's are the immunoglobulins passed on by the
>GRAVID mother to the fetus via blood, and that IgM's are passed to the baby
>via MILK.

I am also a bit confused here. Rachel, did you mean IgA instead of IgM??

I am a bit rusty with regards to immunology (but did study it in my
graduate diploma of medical technology many years ago), but my
understanding is that IgG is the small immunoglobulin that passes
across the placenta (as you stated - classic example is anti-Rh), but
that IgA is the one for all 'secretory' purposes, such as milk, lung
lining, etc - it has a J-chain joining the two parts that are each
like IgG molecules, and this J-chain results in the whole molecule
being resistent to degradation (hence it survives in 'hostile'
environments like a baby's gut).

IgM, on the other hand, is a *huge* molecule that I thought could not
get into milk *or* across the placenta.

I thought that milk contains nearly all IgA except for the people who
are genetically IgA-deficient, and they seem to compensate by having
IgG in their milk. (Still not IgM.)

So, I would think that if the baby had IgM in its serum, then it
would be synthesised by the baby (as has been implied in the reports
under discussion). However, I imagine that these could be stimulated
by fragments of the virus, ie antigens from the viral surface or
components, not necessarily the whole, live virus. This is akin to
immunisation without infection, like we do to people to protect them.
Or did they actually find live virus in the milk??

I think that this is an interesting case to help elucidate how
various viruses behave in the lactating mother and breastfeeding
baby, and I hope the immunologists will take this chance to further
our knowledge, rather than it just being used to scaremonger and
damage breastfeeding.
******************************************************************
Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC
Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor
Perth, Western Australia.   mailto:[log in to unmask]
******************************************************************

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