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Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, July 2001, p. 818-821, Vol. 8, No. 4
Department of Pharmacokinetics and Drug Delivery,
University Centre for Pharmacy, Groningen University Institute for
Drug Exploration, 9713 AV Groningen,1 and
Department of Clinical Immunology2 and
Department of Pathology/Laboratory
Medicine,3 Groningen University Institute for
Drug Exploration, University Hospital Groningen, 9713 GZ Groningen,
The Netherlands, and Institut für Medizinische
Mikrobiologie and Immunologie, Universitäts-Krankenhaus
Eppendorf, D-20246 Hamburg,4
Institute for Medical Virology and Epidemiology of Viral
Diseases, University Hospital Tübingen, D-72076
Tübingen,5 and Children's
Hospital, University of Würzburg, 97080 Würzburg,6 Germany
Received 27 December 2000/Returned for modification 7 February
2001/Accepted 11 April 2001
In vitro, lactoferrin (LF) strongly inhibits human cytomegalovirus
(HCMV), which led us to hypothesize that in vivo HCMV might also be
inhibited in secretions with high LF concentrations. In breast milk,
high viral loads observed as high viral DNA titers tended to coincide
with higher LF levels. However, the LF levels did not correlate to
virus transmission to preterm infants. The viral load in the
transmitting group was highest compared to the nontransmitting group.
We conclude that viral load in breast milk is an important factor for
transmission of the virus.
1071-412X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/CDLI.8.4.818-821.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Viral Load in Breast Milk Correlates with
Transmission of Human Cytomegalovirus to Preterm Neonates, but
Lactoferrin Concentrations Do Not

*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Groningen
University Institute for Drug Exploration (GUIDE), Department of
Pharmacy and Drug Delivery, University Center for Pharmacy, Ant.
Deusinglaan 1, 9713 AV Groningen, The Netherlands. Phone:
31-50-363-7566. Fax: 31-50-363-3247. E-mail:
B.W.A.van.der.Strate{at}farm.rug.nl.
Present address: Yamanouchi Europe B.V., 2353 EW Leiderdorp,
The Netherlands.
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