In a message dated 4/7/00 11:31:12 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< If a mother contracted the Ebola virus, and she survived would she
be immune to this virus?  If her child were breastfed would they be immune
as well?  If someone else (not her child) was to drink some of her milk
would the immunity be passed on?  Why would this be possible/ not possible?
 >>

This is such a timely question for my own family!  Just substitute the words
"ebola virus" for "chicken pox" and you would be transported to my house, as
if by magic.  I survived chicken pox in December of 1966 (my mom remembered
exactly the dates when I called her a few weeks ago); my children received
"passive immunity" to chicken pox through IgG immunoglobulins that came to
them from my blood via the placenta.  I have lifelong immunity to chicken
pox, but IgG gave only temporary protection until my babies' own immune
system began to develop.  Of course, breastfeeding is the best way for a
baby's immune system to develop to its full potential!
  My daugher, nursed for 15 months, has just gotten over the chicken pox at
the age of six.  My four year old, who is still drinking my milk, currently
has chicken pox.  I can't answer the part of the question as to whether or
not another child, not my own, would get immunity to chicken pox if he drank
my milk- no tests subjects have come forward.  And since my son *has* the
pox, there wouldn't be much point to that!  But I am certain that he will
fare better with this disease than his non-nursing sister since my milk still
has concentrations of protective factors that continue to strengthen his own
immune system.

I hope that some other Lactnetters with background in immunology will also
respond.  By the way, I and my three siblings were all breastfed and we all
got chicken pox back then in December of 1966 - which is why my mother
remembers it, I guarantee.

Lisa Jones, in Wellington, south FL
where even the children who got the varicella vaccine were breaking out in
pox ...

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