Isolation of respiratory bacterial pathogens from the throats of healthy infants fed by different methods

Most bacterial infections are caused by organisms that have already coloniz ed the host. Bacterial attachment to pharyngeal cells and proliferation may be necessary to infect the lower respiratory tract or middle ear. We inves tigated the incidence of pathogenic bacteria isolated from the throat of he althy infants with different feeding methods. The protecting role of breast milk is also discussed. The incidence of respiratory bacterial pathogens is olated from the oropharynx of 113 normal infants with different feeding met hods was investigated. Group A beta haemolytic Streptococcus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis were selected as respiratory bacterial pathogens. No respiratory bacterial pathogens wer e detected in breastfed and mixed-fed infants. Haemophilus influenzae and M oraxella catarrhalis were isolated from the oropharynx of formula-fed infan ts. The incidence of respiratory bacterial pathogens did differ among infan ts with different feeding methods. These results suggest that breastmilk ma y inhibit the colonization by respiratory bacterial pathogens of the throat of infants, by enhancing mucosal immunity against respiratory tract infect ion.