Can diseases be passed through breast milk?

Question

My city open a breast milk bank yesterday and hundreds of women donated on day 1. it is a government and private hospital joint effort. The milk is processed and frozen for up to 6 months. the milk is for newborns and premature births who need milk but the mom is having problems providing milk. Can HIV or Hep A or B or some other nasty be transmitted to the newborn when mistakes happen in screening?

Answer 1

babies who get breastmilk from milk banks are usually in dire situations... they are preemies who can't digest formula.  they are babies with severe allergies.  they are babies who have underdeveloped immune systems and need the antibodies.  there isn't enough banked milk to go around for the normal healthy babies to have it.  you need a prescription to get banked milk for your baby.  in those cases, the benefits of breastmilk are way more important than any possible risks from an unlikely screening accident.  it's the same way with a blood transfusion... it's possible for something to have gone wrong with the screening, but you only use it if you really need it so you accept the risk.

Answer 2

HIV and certain  other viruses can be passed through the milk, but milk-bank donors are all rigerously screened.  The risk of harm from a 'mistake in screening' would be far lower than the risk of harm from formula.  

Answer 3

The milk in milk bank is not only screened for diseases just as blood is screened, it is also pasteurized.  It is far safer than human blood banking as milk can be pasteurized and not as many diseases spread through breastmilk as through blood.

Answer 4

They screen the milk for disease before they give  it out. I am sure the screening process is very good, just like with blood.

Answer 5

absolutely!! breast milk is a bodily fluid like any other! i had a scary thing happen when my daughter was in the NICU, they accidently gave me the milk from the baby next to us (everyones breastmilk was stored in a fridge) i was feeding her and suddenly i looked and it said "hannah" .. i laughed it off at first but when they had me sign a form for an AIDS test it became less funny!! thankfully it was neg., but still.. scary stuff