THURSDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- In developing countries
where breast-feeding is a necessity, and HIV is rampant, the risk
of disease transmission through breast milk might be reduced if
infants were first fed a freeze-dried formula full of good bacteria
that could capture and potentially destroy the deadly virus.
But that hope is theoretical, because the formula hasn't been
tested in humans. However, researchers from the University of
Chicago report that they are one giant step closer to that reality,
because they have designed a method that allows the good bacteria
to remain active, even without refrigeration.
"The one major challenge for infant products going to Africa or
other poor regions is that they don't have refrigeration, so
anything you send has to be heat-resistant," explained one of the
researchers, Lin Tao, an associate professor in the department of
oral biology at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Tao presented the findings Thursday at the International
Association for Dental Research annual meeting, in Toronto.
Lactobacillus is a bacterium normally found in the mouth. It's
one of the good bacteria found in some dairy products, such as
yogurt or kefir. Surprisingly, this common bacteria has the ability
to "capture" the HIV virus.
"HIV, though quite deadly as a disease, as a virus is relatively
weak, so it's not surprising to find out that lactobacillus can act
against HIV and maybe prevent its incorporation into mammalian
cells," said Dr. Marc Siegel, an associate professor at the New
York University School of Medicine and the author of
False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear.
Tao and his colleague, Dr. R. Chang from Lavax, of Palatine,
Ill., developed the new freeze-drying method for maintaining
lactobacilli in a hot environment, and in the current study, they
tested the new method at different temperatures to ensure that the
lactobacilli remained viable.
Now that they've shown a method for keeping the bacteria alive
in heat, the researchers have to decide the most effective product
to use. Infant formula is an obvious candidate, or possibly a type
of lollipop that an infant could suck on, Tao said.
Once the lactobacilli are ingested, the bacteria will colonize
the infants' GI tract, and as long as they are fed milk, the
bacteria will remain alive and able to capture HIV, said Tao.
"This study provides hope for the prevention of HIV. So far, all
of the AIDS vaccines have failed in clinical trials, but this shows
that there are alternatives. There are ways to conquer this virus,"
said Tao, who said the next step is to secure additional funding
for further research.
"The notion of using probiotics to protect infants against
HIV-positive breast milk is a novel, promising and interesting
notion that bears further study," said Siegel.
More information
To learn more about HIV infection in babies and children, visit
the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases.
