Flavored ice cubes containing the breast milk of women who have had Covid-19 can help fight the life-threatening infection, scientists say.
Dutch researchers claim to have found antibodies in the breast milk of 30 mothers after taking Covid-19.
Breast milk could therefore be used to protect the most vulnerable people in the event of a second wave, experts said.
They said the best way to deliver this would be not to drink, but rather to suck an ice cube.
This, they claim, gives the antibodies more of a chance to attach to the mucous membranes of the mouth and airways, where they can prevent the coronavirus from spreading further in the body.
The blood of Covid-19 survivors, rich in antibodies, is already being used to treat patients, including in the United Kingdom.
Using breast milk is a ‘foreign image’, the Dutch team acknowledges – but if it can help prevent infection, it should not be eaten.
Thousands of women have responded to a campaign asking them to donate 100ml of breast milk for further research.
The thick yellowish milk (colostrum) produced for the first few days after birth is particularly rich in antibodies against other viruses, such as chickenpox, according to the NHS.
Flavored ice cubes containing the breast milk of women who have had Covid-19 can help fight the life-threatening infection, say Dutch scientists
The antibodies are not destroyed by pasteurization – a heating process required to kill pathogens before it can be drunk by other people. This means that they can be pasteurized and then made into a form of ice as ice cubes and given to patients suffering from the infection is claimed (stock of milk cubes)
The first study, a collaboration between Emma Children’s Hospital of Amsterdam UMC and other institutes, began in April.
Dr Britt Van Keulen, of the Dutch Breastmilk Bank of Amsterdam UMC, said: ‘We know that breastmilk protects newborns from respiratory infections.
‘That’s because there are antibodies in breast milk. Through breastfeeding, the mother passes on her own antibodies to her children. ‘
Antibodies are proteins produced by the immune system in response to the presence of a foreign substance, such as the coronavirus.
The role of antibodies is to capture invasive pathogens and mark them for other immune cells, such as T cells, to kill.
Neutralizing antibodies can kill the virus itself, instead of just tagging it for other immune cells to attack.
Researchers recruited 30 women who had already taken Covid-19.
They claim that laboratory experiments showed the antibodies they found powerful enough to stop the spread of the coronavirus, The Times reported.
But there do not appear to be any findings published in a medical journal or elsewhere.
The antibodies are not destroyed by pasteurization – a heating process required to kill pathogens in breast milk before it can be drunk by other people.
This means that they can be pasteurized and then made into a form of ice as ice cubes and given to patients suffering from the infection is claimed.
Dr Van Keulen said the antibodies should be in contact with mucous membranes – a layer of cells surrounding body organs that secrete a thick fluid that protects the inside of the body against pathogens such as viruses.
This is the reason why an ice cube is the most attractive form of giving breast milk because it needs to be sucked.
Dr Van Keulen said: ‘If you drink it, it disappears quickly. Our idea is to give it in the form of ice cubes so that it lasts a little longer, there is longer contact with the mucous membranes to make that layer. ‘
Hans Van Goudoever, head of Emma Children’s Hospital, said: ‘We think that, after drinking the milk, the antibodies attach themselves to the surface of our mucous membranes. There, they attack the virus particles before entering the body. ‘
Treatments would not be available on a mass scale due to the limited amount of breast milk.
But it could also be used to protect vulnerable people, such as elderly residents during an outbreak at a care home as young children.
‘In that case, breast milk could possibly be used for risk groups if a second corona wave occurs,’ said Dr Van Goudoever.
‘You should give the milk ten days. After that, the virus will hopefully leave that nursing home. ‘
Dr Van Keulen said: ‘It is often a strange image, parents drinking breast milk.
‘But if it protects against a deadly virus, we should just be embarrassed about it.’
The researchers advocate for thousands of women to donate breast milk, even if they have not yet been formally diagnosed with Covid-19, to discover how prevalent the antibodies are among mothers with nurses.
The response has been “overwhelming”, a hospital spokesman told The Brussels Times.
Some 5,000 women have responded to the call to donate 100 ml of breast milk in the name of coronavirus research.
The researchers initially said it would be ‘difficult’ to get answers, as it is known that few pregnant women have had Covid-19 infection.
‘Women who are untreated with corona may also produce antibodies found in milk,’ said Dr Van Goudoever.
“So we are looking for mothers who are (possibly) infected with the corona virus, but even if this is not the case, a mother can register them.”
The team will now try to determine what percentage of breast milk contains antibodies.
It remains to be seen whether breast milk is indeed effective as a preventive treatment against the coronavirus.
But Dr Van Keulen is hopeful about information about a pregnant woman during the 2003 outbreak of SARS – a related human coronavirus.
She said: ‘This woman was seriously infected with the SARS virus and gave birth to a healthy baby at 38 weeks.
‘Antibodies to that virus were found in her breast milk. If you know that the coronavirus is very similar to the SARS virus – they are from the same family – then I think corona antibodies can also end up in breast milk. ‘
Antibodies are a promising line of Covid-19 treatment because they can be used to support the immune system of people who are struggling to fight the infection.
The blood of Covid-19 survivors, rich in antibodies, is already being used to treat patients.
The treatment – used for about a century for other infections – works with the fluid part of the blood, known as convalescent plasma.
This antibody-rich plasma is injected into Covid-19 patients who have difficulty producing their own antibodies, hoping it can help eradicate the virus.
Other pipeline therapies, such as injections, use laboratory genetically engineered antibodies.
Scientists say that antibodies can give people the ability to prevent being struck by the disease when administered in doses such as a vaccine.
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