Abstract
Before considering the composition of human milk and its protective properties for the infant it is worth emphasising that primates (and guinea-pigs) have the advantage over many other animals in that the transmission of passsive immunity is largely prenatal(1). This is vital for the prevention of bacterial invasion from the gut. Animals with epitheliochorial placentation like the pig and calf, if deprived of colostrum, almost invariably die of septicaemia since they normally absorb protective IgG from colostrum during the first few hours of life. Human babies deprived of colostrum and milk lack protective factors in the gut and may suffer severe diarrhoea which can sometimes be fatal. Nevertheless their susceptibility to bacterial invasion from the gut is greatly reduced when compared with other milk deprived animals.
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© 1981 Plenum Press, New York
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Bullen, J.J. (1981). Bacteriostatic Systems in Human Milk. In: Wilkinson, A.W. (eds) The Immunology of Infant Feeding. Ettore Majorana International Science Series, vol 8. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4049-2_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4049-2_4
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