Fran, There is one study, I do not have the citation here at home, that shows a reduction in viruses (I am not sure if these incl HIV) in expressed breast milk that was allowed to sit at room temperature. It is a fairly old study, I believe, and a research direction that definitely needs more work. Inresponse to Dr. Wight's suggestion re: heat treatment of the mom's own expressed milk, this is an option that is offered to HIV+ mothers in at least one African nation. However, the research that supports heat treatment was all done using the Holder pasteurization process. Holder pasteurization requires expensive and fairly sophisicated equipment like that used by milk banks, and there is NO milk bank that will take on the liablility of handling milk from an HIV+ mom (I asked Lois Arnold). And there is nothing in the current literature, except a brief sentence or 2 in Felicity Savage King's book (Helping Mothers to Breastfeed, a publication intended for use by African health workers), that deals with home heat treatment. It too, is a good idea, and one that needs to be followed up with research. Martha Johnson RN IBCLC Eugene, Oregon ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] *********************************************** 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