Rachel

How fascinating!   I've just been looking at HIV testing methods for blood, 
breast milk and cervical secretions, and it certainly sounds like a highly 
complex process.  Would you have any idea of the specific test (eg Amplicor 
Version 1.5, or Gen-Probe, whatever?) which is used in to test donor milk 
for HIV?   And how sensitive it might be (number of viral copies that could 
be identified?)  The reason I ask is that it looks as if not all tests are 
primed for all sub-types of HIV, and in fact, certainly until very 
recently, most were set to identify sub-type B HIV (found mostly in the 
US), which is not a common strain worldwide.  A 2002 paper suggests that 
breast milk is slightly trickier than plasma and a pilot study established 
that the Gen-Probe was found to be sensitive and specific for the genetic 
strains of HIV-1 circulating worldwide, but there were recommendations 
about the quantity of milk to be used, and some of the problems (Panteleef 
2002).  I'd expect that milk banks that dispense unpasteurized milk would 
be pretty clued up about this.  Would you be able to let me know?

Pamela Morrison IBCLC
WABA HIV & Infant Feeding Co-Coordinator
[log in to unmask]



At 18:57 30/01/2006, you wrote:
>As many of you know we don't
>pasteurize donor milk here in Norway, because so many of the vital
>characteristics which make it such a life-saving thing are lost in heat
>processing.  We test the donors more stringently than blood donors, and each
>batch of milk is tested as well.
>
>Does anyone here know how much Prolacta's products will cost?  Is it
>possible to post that information to Lactnet?
>
>Rachel Myr
>Kristiansand, Norway

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