Pasteurization can kill covid

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Giving breast milk (ASI) to babies under 6 months of age is very important for the development of children, including for those whose mothers are infected with COVID-19. Therefore, scientists are looking for a safe way to provide milk with the potential to be contaminated with the corona virus that causes COVID-19.

Can breast milk be contaminated with the virus and become a source of transmission of COVID-19 to infants? How is it safe to give?

Pasteurization can kill COVID-19 in expressed breast milk

The research team from the University of New South Wales Sydney confirmed that the pasteurization process can deactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 in breast milk.

In this study, researchers infected the corona virus in frozen milk. They then heated the milk samples that had been contaminated with the virus to a temperature of 63˚C for 30 minutes.

"The temperature and time measurements used are simulations of the pasteurization process that are usually carried out at breast milk donor banks," said Greg Walker, the study's lead author, as quoted by UNSW, Tuesday (11/8).

After the pasteurization process, researchers did not find any live corona virus content in the breast milk.

These findings are in accordance with previous studies that said the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 can die in certain hot temperatures.

In fact, until now there have been no cases of transmission of COVID-19 to infants through expressed breast milk. However, the researchers say that theoretically there is the potential for transmission through this route because prevention is necessary.

Before this research was published, a number of breastfeeding donor banks in Australia were constrained in distributing breastmilk to babies in need for fear of the risk of transmitting COVID-19 in the milk.

In fact, this breast milk must be donated smoothly to premature babies from mothers who cannot breastfeed themselves.

The researchers say their experiment tries to simulate a worst case scenario. Therefore, after the results of this study, mothers and officers can take effective prevention of transmission of COVID-19.

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Storing expressed breastmilk in the refrigerator does not kill the corona virus

The researchers also tested whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 contained in breast milk dies when frozen at 4 ° C to -30 ° C. As a result, this condition is unable to deactivate the virus.

"We found that cold storage had no significant impact on viral load after 48 hours," Walker said.

The researchers found that the corona virus is stable in breast milk that is chilled or frozen. These findings could help refine guidelines around the safe storage of expressed breast milk from mothers infected with COVID-19.

"For example, we now know that it is very important for mothers with COVID-19 to ensure that their breast milk is not contaminated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus," said Dr. Laura Klein, a member of the research on this research.

The world health organization, WHO, issued guidelines for breastfeeding during a pandemic, including how to give breastmilk from COVID-19 mothers to their babies.

Make sure the breast pump is sterile and not used interchangeably
Clean the surface of the bottle or container of breast milk before storing it in the refrigerator
Store the pump appropriately
Store expressed breast milk properly

COVID-19 mothers can breastfeed directly

It is important to remember that not all mothers with COVID-19 are safe to breastfeed directly. Mothers who are infected with COVID-19 and experience severe symptoms are not advised to breastfeed directly at all.

The Indonesian Midwives Association (IBI) conveyed the main principle that mothers infected with COVID-19 can breastfeed directly by wiping their breasts and washing their hands before handling babies and wearing masks during breastfeeding.