Breastfeeding and risk of parasitic infection-A review

ABSTRACT

Breastfeeding, as exclusive nutrition in the first six months of life, is a necessary nutritional requisite in infants. Except for very few maternal diseases that contraindicate breastfeeding, some of which still controversial, breastfeeding mothers must continue exclusive and sustained lactation to provide maximum overall benefits through breastfeeding. Parasitic infections is a global disease and children remain a significant proportion of the affected population. The complex and mandatory life cycles of some parasites, particularly the helminths may partly explain their geographical distribution. The world-wide prevalence of parasitic infections as well as the largely asymptomatic nature of most infections, make many of these infections to likely remain under-recognized. Breast milk, the prime infant nutrition must be recognized to be more than a rare vehicle of parasite transmission, but also a general and focused immune defensive tool against some important parasites. The possibility and influence of small quantities of parasite antigens in breast milk have not been adequately explored. It is believed that useful immunological responses both direct and indirect in breast milk that occur due to the presence of parasite antigens, must be further studied in the light of both immediate and long term benefits. Within this context, and prompted by a spectrum of existing uncertainties, researched and hypothetical roles of parasites and associated immunological responses in the lactating mammary gland are proposed and reviewed.