Passive immunity measles breastfeeding

The source of measles immunity in the first few months of birth is the passive immunity passed to the infants from their mothers, either transplacentally or through colilstrum and breastmilk. Oyedele OO(1), Odemuyiwa SO, Ammerlaan W, Muller CP, Adu FD. Author information: (1)Department of Virology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan.

Maternal and cord blood collected from Nigerian mother-child pairs were tested for measles-sepcific IgG. The strongest point I can make is that stronger protection comes from vertical transmission ( in-utero immunity passed on by mom through the placenta directly to baby ) than from antibodies in breastmilk. This is where the IgA antibodies give protection and fight against the measles virus.

This protection however usually lasts through the first few weeks or months of life. What we can say is that breastfeeding is a benefit and may provide small, passive immunity. However, breastfeeding will not act as a substitute for immunization. This type of immunity is called passive immunity because the baby has been given antibodies rather than making them itself. Antibodies are special proteins the immune system produces to help protect the body against bacteria and viruses.

However, the quality and quantity of such passive immunity depends on the level of measles antibody passively passed to the babies through these sources. All had protective measles antibodies at the time of delivery with a positive correlation of r = 0. Determination of the rate of waning of these antibodies revealed that per cent of these children had lost the protective maternal antibody by the age of months and only per cent of the children had enough antibody to protect them between the ages of 6–months. Breast-feeding , parity, birth weight, educational level, day-care attendance, and cesarean delivery did not significantly alter the.

The second type of passive immunity for a newborn is from breastfeeding. Colostrum, the first breast milk a mother produces when she begins to breastfee contains a huge quantity of immunoglobulin A or IgA. These are called secretory immunoglobulins because they are produced by mucosal membranes, like those that line the gut. Children who are breastfed suffer less frequently from severe meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) bacteria, and also produce more protective antibodies against these bacteria after receiving a Hib vaccine. De Serres G(1), Joly JR, Fauvel M, Meyer F, Mâsse B, Boulianne N. The preparation contains active proteinaceous fraction which is allocated from plasma of donors.

Further, they speculated that the number of susceptible infants is expected to increase among highly vaccinated populations as the majority of women in child-bearing years have vaccine-induced immunity to measles. Unfortunately, this type of passive immunity won’t keep your child from getting diseases like measles , pertussis, or the flu. The presence of measles antibody in breast milk has also been assessed in a study reported from Nigeria.

Current measles vaccines suffer from poor effectiveness in young infants due primarily to the inhibitory effect of residual maternal immunity on vaccine responses. The development of a measles vaccine that resists such passive immunity would strongly contribute to the stalled effort toward measles eradication. In other words, breastfeeding does not provide your baby with total immunity to vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccines developed to fight severe, life-threatening diseases such as polio, diphtheria and measles provide additional protection. Moreover, breastfeeding may improve a baby’s response to some vaccines.

The study highlights an amazing change that takes place in a mother’s body when she begins producing breast milk. Is breastfeeding a naturally acquired passive immunity ? Maternal passive immunity is one type of naturally acquired passive immunity wherein the maternal antibodies are passed through the placenta to the fetus during the third month of gestation. Natural Infants benefit from passive immunity acquired when their mothers’ antibodies and pathogen-fighting white cells cross the placenta to reach the developing children, especially in the third trimester.

A substance called colostrum, which an infant receives during nursing sessions in the first days after birth and before the mother begins producing “true” breast milk, is rich in antibodies and provides protection for the infant. Passive Immunity: Natural vs.