Pam Here is an excerpt I wrote about freezing breastmilk to inactive HIV for an article published in 1999 (Ref: Morrison P. HIV and infant feeding: to breastfeed or not to breastfeed: the dilemma of competing risks, Part 1. Breastfeeding Review 1999;7(2):5-13 Part 2. Breastfeeding Review 1999;7(3):11-19.) You'll see that I hypothesize and call for research. I haven't seen any later articles which mention the use of frozen EBM and HIV. ------------------------------ FROZEN HUMAN MILK It is hypothesized that freezing affects lipids in human milk by breaking down fat globule membranes, decreasing the size of the fat globules, and therefore increasing the surface available for lipase activity. Although there is some loss of immunological components during freezing, which destroys living cells in the milk, some remain intact, and frozen human milk provides more advantages to the infant than commercially manufactured cow's milk based formulas. In 1989 it was reported that another enveloped virus, similar to the HIV virus, the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1 virus), which is also spread through blood, sexual activity and breastfeeding ,and which is also nearly always fatal, is killed when human milk is frozen to -20 degrees C (0 degrees F) and thawed. Thus a mother who is HTLV+ may safely use this "freeze-and-thaw" method of feeding her own expressed breastmilk to her baby. (Ando et al, l989) In a study done to determine the safety of pasteurization of human milk, it was found that cell-free HIV was destroyed after sitting at O degrees C for 30 minutes and the titer of HIV infected cells was considerably reduced (Orloff et al 1993). We need to know whether freezing and thawing will also kill the HIV virus. If so, previously frozen and thawed breastmilk would provide a safer alternative to formula feeding for the HIV-infected mother with access to a refrigerator/freezer. -------------------------- Refs cited: Ando Y, Kakimoto K, Tanigawa T, Furuki K, Saito K, Nakano S, Hashimoto H, Moriyama I, Ichijo M Toyama T 1989, Effect of freeze-thawing breast milk on vertical HTLV-1 transmission from seropositive mothers to children. Jap J Cancer Res 80:405-07. Orloff SL, Wallingford JC, McDougal JS 1993, Inactivation of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in human milk: effects of intrinsic factors in human milk and of pasteurization. J Hum Lact 9(1):13-17. Hope this helps a little. Pamela Morrison IBCLC Harare, Zimbabwe Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2003 12:24:03 -0500 From: "Pam Hirsch, RN, BSN, CLC" <[log in to unmask]> Subject: HIV, Hep A,B,&C, CMV - Destroyed by Freezing? Hi, All: Does anyone know if HIV, Hepatits A,B&C and CMV(cytomegalovirus) are destroyed by freezing for several days in refrigerator freezer? All the information I have discusses heat pasteurization, not freezing. Thanks for your input. Pam Hirsch, RN,BSN,CLC *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html