More than a year and a half after the start of the pandemic, researchers continue to learn about Covid-19. A new American study suggests that breast milk contains antibodies up to 10 months after infection. An interesting data for the protection of babies but also, potentially, for the development of a treatment.
While antibodies to Covid-19 had been detected in breast milk before, it was not yet known how long a woman could produce them and whether they were truly able to neutralize the virus. According to the study conducted by Dr. Rebecca Powell of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, this is indeed the case.
Her team took breast milk samples from 75 women who had recovered after contracting Covid-19. The results showed that the fluid contains not only antibodies called immunoglobulins G (IgG), namely those present in the blood following a vaccination, but also others, such as secretory immunoglobulins (IgA).
The latter, present in 88% of the women involved in the study, predominate in body fluids such as saliva, colostrum, milk or secretions from the mucous membranes and intestines. In most cases, they have been shown to be able to neutralize Sars-CoV-2, blocking the infection.
An “incredible therapy”
Thus, during the World Breastfeeding Symposium, Tuesday, September 21, Rebecca Powell indicated that beyond providing valuable protection for babies, this breast milk could also be beneficial for adults with severe forms of Covid-19. . “This could be an incredible therapy, because the secretory IgA is supposed to be in the mucous membranes, especially respiratory, and it survives and works there very well”, enthuses the expert, whose comments are reported by the Guardian.
She predicts in particular that this treatment could be particularly indicated when the patient is “very sick” but “not yet to the point of being admitted to intensive care”. Taking the matter further, Rebecca Powell and her team are now studying the transfer of antibodies specific to the coronavirus into breast milk after vaccination.
The first data, observed on a group of 50 women, show that all those who received Moderna’s serum and 87% of those vaccinated with Pfizer had IgG antibodies. IgA, which is of particular interest to these scientists, was detected in the breast milk of 71% and 51% of these women, respectively. These different antibodies were less present in those immunized with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (38% IgG and 23% IgA).
Rebecca Powell believes this is because messenger RNA vaccines result in higher antibody production than that induced by viral vector sera. To confirm or not this hypothesis, his team is currently studying the breast milk of women who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine.