COVID-19: See What Study Reveals Could Be Potential For Treatment

A recent study has revealed that breast milk can be used for the potential treatment of Covid-19.

Many lactating mothers in the US are voluntarily signing up for a study which if successful, may lead to another breakthrough in finding a treatment for the coronavirus.

An assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine, Dr. Rebecca Powell, has gathered breast milk in order to study the antibodies in the milk.

“The hypothesis is generally that there would be antibodies in the milk against covid-19 because there is some proportion of antibodies in milk that comes from blood.

“We hope that the antibody levels are high and have a protective function. This important for breastfed babies, obviously. Beyond that, if there are high levels of protective antibodies could be purified and used in treatments in severe cases of covid-19,” she said.

She also made it clear that she was not encouraging people to go to the nearest milk store for breast milk.

“I don’t recommend anyone to buy bodily fluids online and ingest them. Any bodily fluid can also carry other illnesses. I’m talking about purifying specific antibodies from the milk and using therapeutically,” she said.

Another researcher, Dr. Powell’s research also has similar studies except the studies are conducted on the blood plasma.

She remarked that the collection of breast milk relates to a particular number of people who are lactating mothers.

“If you are covid-19 positive or you have strong reason to suspect you are infected or you are an essential worker with a high likelihood of infection, we are recruiting all over the country. Otherwise, we are recruiting any lactating mother in New York City whether they’ve been tested positive, had exposure, or not exposed at all,” she said.

She is also hoping to receive full funding to conduct this study for at least a couple of years.

Read Also: What You Need to Know About Breastfeeding in an Era of COVID-19