Coronavirus antibodies in breast milk may protect infants

Breast milk from infected mothers may contain antibodies to the novel coronavirus that could be protective for babies, a study suggests. "Nursing mothers who are infected with the novel coronavirus should continue to breastfeed throughout their COVID-19 illness and beyond, because (other researchers) have shown transmission does not occur via milk, and we have determined that antibodies are almost certainly there, and may protect their babies from infection," Rebecca Powell of The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, who led the study, told Reuters. Her team's report, posted on Friday on the preprint server medRxiv, has not yet been peer reviewed or published in a medical journal. (bit.ly/2WHvJcA)