Breast-feeding and salmonella infection
1980
France, Gene L. | Marmer, Daniel J. | Steele, Russell W.
Host defense mechanisms present in breast milk protect nursing infants from salmonella infection. Chemotaxis, opsonization, phagocytosis and killing of salmonella organisms by colostral and breast-milk components were examined. Colostral and milk cells were demonstrated to be more active against salmonella than blood neutrophils. In a retrospective survey, a diagnosis of salmonella infection was confirmed in 253 infants less than 1 year of age in Arkansas. Only 12 infants had ever been breast fed, and only one near the time he had the disease. At the same time, 27% of matched control infants were breast-fed, with low incidence of salmonella infection during feeding. There was a high incidence of salmonella infection among bottle-fed infants during the same period. A decline in the practice of breast feeding during the previous two decades may have contributed to an increased incidence of salmonella infection among infants.
显示更多 [+] 显示较少 [-]