BACTERIAL CONTAMINANTS OF COLLECTED AND FROZEN HUMAN-MILK USED IN AN INTENSIVE-CARE NURSERY

Background: Use of human milk for preterm and high-risk neonates conve ys many potential benefits but also poses practical difficulties. This prospective study examined the prevalence and degree of bacterial con tamination of human milk used in the intensive care nursery. Methods: One hundred eight milk samples collected from 40 mothers were tested f or contamination. Samples from mothers whose milk showed a high degree of contamination were retested after counseling on collection methods . Results: Only 12.5% of the samples showed no bacterial growth. Of th e contaminated samples, 38% contained > 30,000 colony-forming units/ml . The most common contaminants were Staphylococcus epidermidis (82%) a nd Acinetobacter (9%), but other contaminants were also encountered. C onclusions: There were not statistically identifiable common character istics of mothers whose milk showed abundant bacterial contamination. Only 30% of these mothers showed improvement in the degree of contamin ation after counseling regarding techniques of milk collection.