Negative Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to Hand-Expressed Colostrum from SARS-CoV-2-Positive Mothers

• Published in: Breastfeeding medicine Vol. 15; no. 8; p. 492
• Main Authors: Marín Gabriel, Miguel Ángel, Malalana Martínez, Ana María, Marín Martínez, María Eugenia, Anel Pedroche, Jorge
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-08-2020
• Subjects: Adult; Betacoronavirus - isolation & purification; Breast Feeding - methods; Breast Milk Expression - methods; Clinical Laboratory Techniques - methods; Colostrum - virology; Communicable Disease Control - methods; Communicable Disease Control - standards; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - transmission; COVID-19; COVID-19 Testing; Female; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical - prevention & control; Male; Milk, Human - virology; Neonatal Screening - methods; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Pneumonia, Viral - transmission; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - diagnosis; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious - epidemiology; SARS-CoV-2; Spain - epidemiology; Spain; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; newborn; colostrum; manual extraction
• ISSN: 1556-8342
• DOI: 10.1089/bfm.2020.0183

The objective of our study was to determine whether the SARS-CoV-2-positive mothers transmit the virus to their hand-expressed colostrum.
This is an observational prospective study that included pregnant women who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 by PCR test on a nasopharyngeal swab at the moment of childbirth and who wanted to breastfeed their newborns. A colostrum sample was obtained from the mothers by manual self-extraction. To collect the samples, the mothers wore surgical masks, washed their hands with an 85% alcohol-based gel, and washed their breast with gauze that was saturated with soap and water.
We obtained seven colostrum samples from different mothers in the first hours postdelivery. SARS-CoV-2 was not detected in any of the colostrum samples obtained in our study.
In our study, breast milk was not a source of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Hand expression (assuring that a mask is used and that appropriate hygienic measures are used for the hands and the breast), when direct breastfeeding is not possible, appears to be a safe way of feeding newborns of mothers with COVID-19.