AIDS and Breast-Feeding
An article on a United Nations conference to promote breast-feeding (Aug. 6) reported that “even mothers who have tested positive for the AIDS virus should breast-feed.”
This is appropriate advice for HIV-infected mothers in developing countries where infant mortality is high and where breast milk is the only source of uncontaminated food. However, it does not represent current policy in countries where serious illness associated with formula feeding is uncommon. In the U.S. and other developed countries, any beneficial effects of breast-feeding are offset by the possibility of transmission of HIV through milk. Two-thirds of babies born to HIV-infected mothers will not be infected. The Centers for Disease Control has recommended that HIV-infected women should be advised against breast-feeding.
JOSEPH A. CHURCH, MD
Pediatric AIDS Program
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
Professor, Clinical Pediatrics, USC
S. MICHAEL MARCY, MD
Kaiser-Permanente Medical Group
Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, USC
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