Administering manufactured lactoferrin — a protein found in breast milk — to preterm infants unable to nurse can greatly reduce the risk of staph infection in the otherwise vulnerable infants, according to a new study published in The Journal of Pediatrics.
For the study, researchers examined the immune systems of 120 premature infants in neonatal intensive care units who are unable to nurse due to a lack of protective intestinal bacteria. The preterm infants weighed between 1 pound, 10 ounces, and 3 pounds, 4 ounces. Half of the infants were given lactoferrin through a feeding tube twice a day for four weeks. After examining the infant's fecal matter, researchers found virtually zero microbes responsible for inciting staph infections in the group administered the manufactured breast milk protein.
"These germs are the most common cause of in-hospital bloodstream infections in premature babies, causing up to 50 percent of infections," said Michael Sherman, MD, professor emeritus in the Department of Child Health at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia and lead author of the study. "As physicians, we've had limited knowledge of how lactoferrin affects the development of protective intestinal bacteria. Our study shows that it can modify germs in the bowel of infants, and those germs can protect premature babies from staph infections...our results justify the need for a large-scale trial of lactoferrin."
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