Kathy asked "Can someone explain this article to me ?" The explanation is  -
the researchers don't know what they are talking about and furthermore, they
are inexcusably ignorant of the literature on this.  There are several
papers that have found similar results to the one cited below.  Bottom line?
Breastfeeding protects infants from from rotavirus (formula fed babies are 3
times more likely to contract rotavirus while in hospital) and formula
feeding exacerbates the illness that results from infection (only formula
fed infants suffered from diarrhoea as a result of rotavirus infection.

Incidence of nosocomial rotavirus infections, symptomatic and asymptomatic,
in breast-fed and non-breast-fed infants
Journal of Hospital Infection, Volume 50, Issue 1, Pages 13-17
Abstract

Rotavirus is one of the most important aetiological agents of nosocomial
infections in childhood. We studied the incidence of nosocomial rotavirus
infections in 420 patients (age range 1­18 months) consecutively admitted
from 1 December 1999 to 31 May 2000 to the infant ward of the Department of
Paediatrics, University of Turin. We also evaluated the protective effect of
breast feeding. Faecal specimens were collected from every child (whether
developing diarrhoeic symptoms or not) and tested for rotavirus during
hospitalization and 72h after discharge. The incidence of rotavirus
nosocomial infections was 27.7%. The incidence of symptomatic nosocomial
infections was 16.8%, and the incidence of asymptomatic infections was
10.9%. The attack rate of the infections that occurred during
hospitalization was 11.8%, while for those occurring after discharge, it was
15.9%. Rotavirus infection, on average, prolonged hospital stay from 5.2 to
6.4 days. 10.6% of breast-fed infants and 32.4% of non-breast-fed infants
contracted rotavirus infection (P<0.005). None of the breast-fed infants who
contracted rotavirus infection developed diarrhoeic symptoms.

Nina Berry
Australia

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome