Mother-to-Child Transmission of Andes Virus through Breast Milk, Chile1

• DOI: 10.3201/eid2608.200204
• Publication Date: 2020-07-13T16:10:35Z
• Authors: Marcela Ferrés; Constanza Martíne...; Jenniffer Angulo; Carolina Henríquez; Jorge Vera-Otárola; María José Vergara; Javier Pérez; Jorge Fernández; Viviana Sotomayor; María Francisca V...; Diego González-Ca...; Nicole D. Tischler; Cecilia Vial; Pablo Vial; Gregory Mertz; Nicole Le Corre
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Orthohantavirus; Milk, Human; Hantavirus Infections; transmission; R; Dispatch; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; hantavirus; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; breast-feeding; Medicine; Humans; Andes virus; viruses; Female; gastrointestinal tract; Chile; Child

Andes virus (ANDV) is the only hantavirus transmitted between humans through close contact. We detected the genome and proteins of ANDV in breast milk cells from an infected mother in Chile who transmitted the virus to her child, suggesting gastrointestinal infection through breast milk as a route of ANDV person-to-person transmission.