Valerie - thanks for reminding us about the intriguing study done by Orloff
and colleagues on inactivation of HIV for the Human Milk Bank Association
of North America.  You mention how the lipids in the milk go to work to
inactivate the virus, and then ask how other studies have managed to
recover HIV from human milk in order to prove that it is an effective
vehicle for transmission of HIV. Excellent question!  Other studies (in the
very fine print, under method, that most of us skip because it is so very
technical) you will usually see that researchers do their studies on the
lipid-free portion of the milk - ie skimmed milk.  Why?  Well, one of the
reasons could of course be that the lipids destroy the virus.....

Which would mean that virus found in the skim milk portion in laboratories
says nothing about whether and how often virus is found in whole milk
inside babies' stomachs!

Another interesting thing about the Orloff study is that it appears to be
conclusive about the safety of Holder Pasteurization in inactivating
HIV.  Logically, this would mean that donors should not really need to be
screened for HIV, since pasteurization renders the virus harmless.  But of
course, I'm hearing gasps of horror that babies might receive the milk of
unscreened women!

Pamela Morrison IBCLC, Zimbabwe

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