This is one of the studies, the other one I have it a t work. Can you all please 
give me your input? thanks..Betty

HPV found in breast milk, clarifying yet another way in which pathogens likely 
spread from parent to child
Author: Amy Proal 
31
 
Jul
 
2008
 
How are the pathogens that cause Th1 disease passed from parent to child? 
For one thing, it’s quite probable that the pathogens are able to survive in the 
sperm and egg. It’s equally true that the pathogens are simply passed among 
people in close contact, and infants and their parents are together quite 
often. 

But the results of a recent study show it’s also likely that some of the chronic 
bacterial species that cause inflammatory disease can remain alive in breast 
milk and thus be passed from mother to child by breast feeding. While the 
study, conducted by researchers at the University of Turku in Finland, 
indicates that a virus can be passed in breast milk during feeding, the fact 
that the Th1 pathogens have evolved so many survival mechanisms and are 
such persistent pathogens strongly suggests that at least some of them 
possess the same capability. 

More specifically, the Finnish research team found that Human papillomavirus 
type 16 (also called high-risk HPV-16), which has been linked to cervical 
cancer, can be detected in human breast milk collected during the early period 
after a woman delivers her baby. According to the team, the fact that viral 
particles survive in breast milk greatly implies that infants can acquire oral HPV 
infection via breast feeding. 

 
HPV attacking a cellThe findings are supported by previous research in which 
Syrjanen, a pathologist at the University of Turku, and colleagues found 
evidence of transmission of HPV from an infected mother to her newborn 
infant. The discovery led them to initiate the Finnish HPV Family Study, the 
goal of which is to elucidate the transmission modes of HPV between family 
members. 

For their current report, Syrjanen’s team looked for HPV in cervical scrapings 
obtained from 223 mothers and in oral scrapings from 87 fathers. Then, they 
performed HPV testing of the breast milk samples 3 days postpartum. High-risk 
HPV DNA was detected in 10 milk samples (4.5 percent) and DNA sequencing 
from nine samples confirmed that the virus was indeed high-risk HPV-16. 

Interestingly, a statistically significant correlation was also found between 
HPV in milk and the presence of high risk-HPV in oral scrapings obtained from 
the father. 

According to Syrjanen, this means transmission could have occurred by the 
spouse, from the mouth to the nipple and then to the breast, or it could have 
occurred from the mother’s hands. If HPV and other pathogens can remain 
alive in the sperm, it could also be hypothesized that some fathers simply pass 
their infants HPV while they are in the womb. Since chances are high that the 
father has also passed the virus to the mother (or it could have been the 
other way around!) HPV could end up in her breast milk as well. 

So why are so many adults infected with HPV in the first place? It boils down 
to the reality that many of them also harbor high levels of the Th1 pathogens. 
Since the Th1 pathogens are able to create ligands that slow the activity of 
the Vitamin D Receptor and subsequently the innate immune response, their 
presence creates an atmosphere in which it’s also easy for co-infectious 
agents like HPV to survive. 

One thing’s for sure. Pathogens are stealthy. The conventional belief that 
washing hands and covering the mouth after sneezing largely prevents their 
spread will almost certainly be replaced by the knowledge that they can be 
passed much more easily among family members. So it’s not defective genes 
we’re sharing…it’s crafty pathogens! 

Filed under: News Flash, familial aggregat

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