Breast Milk Unlikely to Transmit SARS-CoV-2 to Infants

In a study led by the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials Network (IMPAACT), researchers investigated the possibility that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could be transmitted to infants through breast milk.

The study enrolled 18 breastfeeding mothers who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.

Of the 64 total breast milk samples collected, only one had a detectable level of SARS-CoV-2 RNA (the genetic material of the virus).

Notably, none of the samples contained any detectable coronavirus capable of replicating or causing infection, including the sample that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA.

Furthermore, results from a separate experiment showed that in milk samples to which SARS-CoV-2 was intentionally added, the virus was not detectable after Holder pasteurization—a process used to kill potentially harmful germs in donated breast milk.

These findings suggest that SARS-CoV-2 is unlikely to be transmitted to their infants through breast milk consumption, wrote the U.S. NIAID on March 22, 2021.

The IMPAACT Network is co-funded by NIAID and is dedicated to significantly decreasing HIV and HIV-associated infections as well as decreasing mortality and morbidity due to HIV and HIV-associated infections and co-morbidities among infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant/postpartum women.