Measles antibodies in the breast milk of nursing mothers.

Abstract

A total of 216 breast milk samples collected from nursing mothers and corresponding numbers of finger prick sera from their suckling babies were tested for measles antibodies. Fifty (22.1%) of the nursing mothers had antibody while 38 (16.8%) of the sera were positive for measles haemagglutinating (HI) antibodies. Forty-one (18.9%) breast milk samples were found to contain measles complement fixing (CF) antibody while none of the serum samples from the suckling babies had CF antibody. Only 12 of the positive sera were from HI positive mothers. Our result suggests that very little level of measles anitbody is passed through the breast milk.