SUPERHEROES WITH BREAST MILK

VICTORIA BLAKE, Artist

Life Sciences, Undergraduate

KENNETH L. ROSENTHAL, Ph.D., Researcher

Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine

Ken Rosenthal spent six months in Africa collaborating with qualified researchers, and educators dedicated to eradicating HIV/AIDS. In South Africa and Nigeria, they examined the transmission of HIV from mother-to-child, by following 500 HIV- infected mothers, and their uninfected infants. Uninfected infants that were exclusively breastfed by their mothers were substantially safeguarded from HIV. Speculations suggested that innate immune factors within the breast milk shielded against the HIV disease from entering the bloodstream. Additionally, frequent feedings contributed to increased infant protection, due to the threshold bioaccumulation of innate immune factors within the blood. Studies like these are critical to the development of safe and effective HIV vaccines.