Detection of Clostridium perfringens in donor milk at a human breast milk bank: a case report

• Published in: BMC infectious diseases 2023-11, Vol.23 (1), p.1-810, Article 810
• Main Authors: Liu, Ke, Liu, Zhiyong, Chen, Xufei, Wang, Rouzhi, Wang, Dan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Babies; Bacteria; Body temperature; Breast feeding; Breast milk; Breast milk bank; Breastfeeding & lactation; Breasts; Clostridium; Clostridium perfringens; Contamination; Culture; Culture media; Disinfection; Donations; Donor human milk; Enteritis; Enterocolitis; Enterotoxemia; Environmental monitoring; Feces; Food contamination; Food contamination & poisoning; Gangrene; Gas gangrene; Hepatitis; Hospitals; Identification and classification; Infants; Microbial contamination; Microbiological analysis; Microbiological testing; Microorganisms; Milk; Odors; Pasteurization; Proteins; Recurrent infection; Substance abuse treatment; Testing; Wound infection; Yeasts
• ISSN: 1471-2334; 1471-2334
• DOI: 10.1186/s12879-023-08822-8

The breast milk bank is a professional organization that collects donor human milk (DHM) for special medical needs by recruiting qualified breast milk donors. Such organizations are also responsible for the disinfection, processing, testing, storage, distribution, and use of breast milk. As DHM is a biological product, it may get contaminated. Microbiological testing is the final step to determine microbial contamination of DHM. However, a universal method for the microbiological analysis of DHM in breast milk banks globally is lacking.DHM without strict screening may become a potential carrier of pathogens and seriously threaten the health of infants. Clostridium perfringens, a gram-positive anaerobic bacterium, is capable of causing wound infections, including gas gangrene, enteritis/enterocolitis, and enterotoxemia. Here, the first case of C. perfringens detected in DHM has been reported to facilitate the identification of such contamination in breast milk banks. C. perfringens can enter breast milk from contaminated pumping environments or devices, thus causing illness in infants. The microbiological testing of DHM in breast milk banks can be accomplished using liquid enrichment, along with anaerobic and aerobic culture, which is of immense significance in improving the standards for microbiological screening, DHM safety, and infant health.