1. Cytomegalovirus shedding from breastmilk and mucosal sites in healthy postpartum women: A pilot study
- Author
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Azenkot, Tali, Zaniello, Benjamin, Green, Margaret L, Selke, Stacy, Huang, Meei‐li, Magaret, Amalia, Wald, Anna, and Johnston, Christine
- Subjects
Reproductive Medicine ,Biomedical and Clinical Sciences ,Clinical Research ,Infectious Diseases ,Reproductive health and childbirth ,Adolescent ,Adult ,Cytomegalovirus ,Female ,Healthy Volunteers ,Humans ,Infant ,Infant ,Newborn ,Male ,Milk ,Human ,Pilot Projects ,Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Postpartum Period ,Saliva ,Vagina ,Virus Shedding ,Young Adult ,breastmilk ,cytomegalovirus ,postpartum ,Microbiology ,Medical Microbiology ,Virology ,Clinical sciences ,Medical microbiology - Abstract
Mother-to-child cytomegalovirus (CMV) breastmilk transmission can occur in the postnatal period. In a pilot study, we measured daily CMV detection by polymerase chain reaction in breastmilk, vaginal, and saliva samples from nine healthy CMV-seropositive postpartum women for 28 days. CMV was found in seven of nine women and 171 of 253 breastmilk samples (67.6%). In four women, all breastmilk samples were positive. CMV was less frequently detected in the vagina (39 of 258, 15.1%) and saliva (53 of 258, 20.5%). Daily breastmilk, oral, and genital collection is feasible and demonstrates high variability between women. Further study of the dynamics of CMV in distinct anatomic compartments is warranted.
- Published
- 2019