Women with HIV who breastfeed exclusively longer than 4 months have lower risk of transmitting virus to infants, study shows

"The amount of HIV in an infected mother's breast milk spikes when weaning begins, according to a study published [Wednesday] in Science Translational Medicine," Nature reports. "The findings are likely to add urgency to efforts to ensure that infected mothers without access to formula take antiretroviral drugs throughout and beyond the time that they wean their infants," the journal writes, adding, "The research also helps to explain why infants who are weaned early and abruptly are no more likely to avoid contracting HIV than do those who continue to breastfeed, a finding from in a randomized clinical trial of 958 HIV-infected women in Lusaka, Zambia, recruited between 2001 and 2004" (Wadman, 4/17).

"The women were divided into two groups -- one that weaned their babies abruptly after four months, and one in which the women continued to breastfeed as long as they chose," the Los Angeles Times' "Science Now" blog writes. "HIV-infected mothers who breastfed exclusively longer than the first four months after birth had less risk of transmitting the virus to their babies through their milk, researchers said," according to the blog (MacVean, 4/17)."Our results have profound implications for prevention of mother-to child HIV transmission programs in settings where breastfeeding is necessary to protect infant and maternal health," the researchers wrote, GlobalPost notes (Peterson, 4/17). "WHO guidelines suggest that where HIV treatments are used, mothers should breastfeed their infants to at least 12 months," Bloomberg Businessweek writes, adding, "And if antiretroviral drugs are unavailable, women can still breastfeed for at least the first six months" (Ostrow, 4/17).