Effect of freeze-thawing breast milk on vertical HTLV-I transmission from seropositive mothers to children.

Breast feeding is known to be a major cause of vertical transmission of HTLV-I from mothers to her children. The infectiousness of HTLV-I in breast milk was reported to be lost during freezing and thawing processes. We therefore administered frozen-and-thawed breast milk of HTLV-I carriers to their babies. Among the 13 babies given the frozen-and-thawed breast milk (now 12 months of age), no infection has been found yet. This result suggests that freezing and thawing of breast milk is a promising method for the prevention of vertical HTLV-I infection to breast-fed babies.