Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

April 7, 2021

No Evidence of Infectious SARS-CoV-2 in Human Milk Analysis of a Cohort of 110 Lactating Women

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  • [Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A cohort study of lactating individuals found that while SARS-CoV-2 RNA could be found in the breastmilk of some people with recent infection, there was no evidence that it contained infectious virus or that breastfeeding posed a risk of infection to infants. Breast milk samples from 110 individuals (65 confirmed positive, 36 with symptoms but without tests, and 9 with symptoms but a negative test) were tested by RT-PCR (285 samples) and/or viral culture (160 samples). While viral RNA was present in the milk of 7 of 110 (6%) individuals with either a confirmed infection or symptomatic illness, and in 6 of 65 (9%) of individuals with a positive test, live virus was not detected in any culture. 

Krogstad et al. (Apr 7, 2021). No Evidence of Infectious SARS-CoV-2 in Human Milk Analysis of a Cohort of 110 Lactating Women. Pre-print downloaded Apr 7 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.05.21254897