A Study on the Bacterial Contamination and Antimicrobial Resistance in Expressed Human Milk

수집모유의 미생물오염과 항균제 내성에 관한 연구

Purpose: This study is about safety of the expressed human milk by investigating its bacterial contamination and antibiotic resistance of the microbes in the expressed milk. Methods: The data are collected from the 156 mothers and their newborn infants in NICU of U University Hospital from January 2004 to September 2005. Results: 1) The expressed human milk was contaminated by Staphylococcus epidermidis for 66.7%, Two mixed bacterial strain for 11.5%, Acinetobacter species for 8.0%, Klebsiella species for 4.6%, Staphylococcus aureus for 4.6%. 2) The microbes in the human milk had high resistance to the Antimicrobial agents: 77.5% for Penicillin-G, 66.6% for Oxacillin, and 63.7% for Cephalothin. 3) The distribution of microbes showed a significant depending on the place of the milk expression (p=.020). In particular, mixed bacterial strain was found more in the milks expressed at home than the milk expressed at the hospital. Conclusion: This study shows the importance of systematic education of feeding process in expressed milk: poor management of a breast pump, inadequate hand washing and imperfect breast cleaning explain the reasons of contamination 156 cases.