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Rotavirus-inhibitory activity in serial milk samples from Mexican women and rotavirus infections in their children during their first year of life.

Nestlé Research Centre, Nestec Ltd., Lausanne, Switzerland.

ABSTRACT

A total of 75 children born in rural Mexico were followed for diarrheal diseases and rotavirus (RV) excretion during the first year of life. For 18 children, an average of 14 serial breast milk samples were obtained between days 2 and 360 after delivery and were tested for RV-inhibitory activity. Of these samples, 70, 62, and 85% showed inhibitory activity against serotype (ST) 1 human RV, ST4 human RV, and ST3 simian RV, respectively; the median titers were 10, 10, and 20, respectively. Some 89% of the milk samples showed RV-specific antibodies in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (median titer, 20). Surprisingly, 98% of the milk samples inhibited ST6 bovine RV. ST6, but not ST1, RV-inhibitory activity survived heat treatment (10 min at 80 degrees C). Of the 18 children tested, 13 children experienced 23 episodes of diarrhea (enterotoxigenic [n = 8] and enteropathogenic [n = 3] Escherichia coli, Campylobacter jejuni [n = 4], Shigella flexneri [n = 2], RV [n = 1]) and 5 children experienced 6 RV infections. Only one RV infection was associated with diarrhea. The five RV excretors did not differ from the nonexcretors with respect to the RV-inhibitory activity in the breast milk fed to them. The RV-inhibitory titers were too low in the majority of the studied Mexican milk samples to indicate an important effect of breast-feeding on the take rate of oral human, simian, or reassortant RV vaccines. Breast-feeding might, however, inhibit the take rate of a bovine RV vaccine.