Abstract:
Background: Expressed breast milk (EBM) is defined as milk removed from a
mother’s breast without an infant's mouth at her nipple. Mothers breast milk is
not sterile and can be a vehicle for commensal and pathogenic microorganisms
derived from the mother or the newborn unit environment leading to neonatal
sepsis, a leading cause of neonatal mortality. Knowledge of the contaminants is
of importance in trying to establish enhanced safety of the breast milk.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to ascertain the prevalence and common
bacterial contaminants of EBM.
Design: A descriptive cross sectional
Setting: Newborn Unit of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), Eldoret,
Kenya.
Participants: The study randomly sampled 170 mothers with babies admitted at
the Newborn Unit of MTRH, expressing breast milk for the purpose of feeding
their newborns
Interventions: Collected breast milk samples were subjected to laboratory
analysis, including culture, microbiology and biochemical tests.
Outcome measures: contamination was defined as the presence of any type of
bacteria while acceptable contamination was defined as Colony Forming Units
of less than 1.0x104/ml.
Results: 78.2% (n=133) of the EBM samples had bacterial contamination. The
bacterial contaminants isolated include Staphylococcus epidermidis (54.9%),
Staphylococcus aureus (42.1%), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (2.3%), and
Enterococcus sp. (0.8%). The CFU/ml on all the samples were less than 1.0x104/ml
and, therefore, within acceptable limits. Multivariate analysis of both neonatal
and maternal factors revealed, there was no statistically significant association
with bacterial contamination of EBM (p>0.05).
Conclusion: A significant proportion of the EBM at the NBU of MTRH has
bacterial contamination but within acceptable limits. There was no statistically
significant association between contamination and factors considered in this
study.
