Friendly bacteria may block HIV

Laboratory tests showed the bacteria latched on to the HIV virus and stopped it invading other cells.

Laboratory tests showed the bacteria latched on to the HIV virus and stopped it invading other cells. The University of Illinois team says this opens up a possible way to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child through breast milk. The findings were presented at a Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology. Dr Lin Tao, and his colleagues at the College of Dentistry, screened hundreds of bacteria taken from the saliva of healthy volunteers. Friendly bacteria They identified six strains of a bacterial family called Lactobacillus that produced proteins capable of binding to a part of the HIV virus. The bacteria bound to sugars that coat and encase HIV. HIV exists as many subtypes because it frequently mutates. This makes it difficult to develop vaccines against the virus. The sugar coating of HIV, however, remains largely the same. Dr Lin Tao, lead researcher at the University of Illinois, Chicago The researchers say this should mean Lactobacilli can attack even if the virus has mutated. They are hopeful that these bacteria can safely be used to prevent transmission of HIV through breastfeeding. Worldwide, mother to infant transmission of HIV results in 800,000 new infections each year. Dr Tao said: “While studies have been done so far only in the laboratory, we believe this work opens up new possibilities for preventing the transmission of HIV through mothers’ milk. “Unlike standard retroviral drugs, which are too toxic for newborns, lactobacilli are friendly bacteria already inhabiting the human digestive tract and milk products, and so should pose no danger to infants,” he said. More research needed Mr Jack Summerside of the Terrence Higgins Trust said while the research was valuable research, it was still early days. “Knowledge is still a long way away from being sufficient or definite enough to use in real-life situations. If you are woman with HIV who is either nursing a baby or pregnant, we strongly recommend that you speak to your nurse or doctor before making any decisions about breastfeeding. “We’d also recommend anyone involved in advising women with HIV about breastfeeding to take into account that these are early results based purely on work in the laboratory, rather than in people,” he said. (Source: BBC Health News, May 2004)