Preliminary Research Shows SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in New Moms’ Early Breastmilk

Antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus were detected in colostrum, which is early breastmilk, from 14 of 15 women who had tested positive for COVID-19 before giving birth, according to preliminary findings from research led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst breast cancer researcher and a University of Massachusetts Medical School obstetrician-gynecologist.

As the team of UMass Amherst scientists continues related research, the early data on colostrum, the nutrient- and antibody-rich breastmilk produced in the first few days after childbirth, is available on medRxiv, the health sciences preprint server for research not yet peer-reviewed. 

“Importantly this immune response was detected in colostrum of women who had their first positive test and symptoms more than four months before delivery, as well as those who had their first positive test at delivery and were asymptomatic,” writes lead author Vignesh Narayanaswamy, a UMass Amherst PhD candidate, in the preprint. He works in the breastmilk research lab of senior and corresponding author Kathleen Arcaro, professor of environmental toxicology in the Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences.