Studies find HIV transmission through breast milk facilitated by vitamins

A diet supplemented by vitamin A and beta-carotene may promote the transmission of HIV from mother to child, two recent studies have found.

The papers, which appear in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Nutrition this month, determined that supplements of vitamin A and beta-carotene appear to increase the viral load passed through breast milk.

Their authors theorize that the vitamins may increase the risk of subclinical mastitis, a condition in which blood plasma leaks from mammary glands into milk.

The plasma may contain viral particles, they conclude.

In order to prevent the spread of the HIV, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that everyone aged 13 to 64 get regularly tested for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). For individuals concerned that they have contracted an STD through sexual or non-sexual contact, online testing services may be a viable option.

Within three months of transmission, HIV antibodies are detectable in the bloodstreams of 97 percent of those infected, according to the CDC.