CDC: Caregivers with infectious diseases should avoid prechewing food for babies

CDC. MMWR . 2011;60:273-275.

Caregivers who have HIV should avoid prechewing food for their children, according to a report published by the CDC.

Natella Rakhmanina, MD, of the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and CDC researchers discussed their findings from a survey they conducted at nine pediatric HIV clinics across the country between 2009 and 2010. Among primary caregivers of children aged older than 6 months, 48 of 154 surveyed participants reported that the children received premasticated food from themselves or someone else.

The study was prompted by data published in 2008 that indicated HIV was most likely transmitted via premastication of food from an infected caregiver to a noninfected child. In two of those three instances, the caregivers recalled having bleeding gums at the time of premastication. It is presumed that there must be blood in the mouth for HIV to be transmitted via premastication, and there is no current evidence to suggest that saliva alone can transmit the HIV virus, the CDC researchers said.

Hepatitis B, Streptococcus mutans, herpes and other diseases have also been documented to have been transmitted via premastication.

About 14% of US caregivers report the practice of premastication as a means to feed a young baby food or medicine, and the researchers conducted their study to investigate the prevalence of this practice among those with HIV. The study said there is a higher incidence of premastication among black and young caregivers, and that there is “the need for targeted prevention messages for these populations.”

Research on HIV transmission through premastication remains limited, but CDC officials are urging health care providers to “educate the public about the risk for disease transmission, including HIV, via premastication.”

Disclosure: The researchers reported no relevant disclosures.

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