Paula,
Staphylococcus aureus is normally  found on the skin and in the mouth.
When we culture milk prior to heat treatment we often find  S. aureus.
When R. Lawrence is discussing no bacteria being  acceptable she is
talking about milk that has been heat treated by the milk bank and going
out to donors post heat treatment.    It is impossible to not have  S.
aureus in human milk pumped from a breast where it is a normal flora.
The Human Milk Bank Association of North America ( HMBANA ) does have
guidelines for using raw milk when prescribed, but I do not have the
guidelines at home with me.  Again they are talking about milk used for a
recipient of donor milk not the mother's own infant.  Years ago when we
did not heat treat milk it was not unusual to find low counts (10,000 is
low ) of  S. aureus in the milk.  Heat treatment  was started in the
1980s.   You can email me privately if you would like and on Tuesday when
I get back to the office I will research more information for you.  I
hope this is helpful.

Darlene Breed, BSN, RN, IBCLC
Coordinator, Milk Bank/Breastfeeding Center
Worcester, MA
> Neonatologist requested skin and milk
>cultures(including yeast cultures). Negative for yeast. milk and skin
>cultures grew out staph aureus.
>Milk had staph aureus with a colony count less than 10,000.
>Neonatologist wants to know what is an acceptable colony count. The
>only info I found was in Lawrence for donor milk. She states that no
>potential pathogens should be found(staph aureus was among those
>listed). She also lists other guidelines stating a count of
>staphylococci of less than 100,000 is acceptable.


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