Pre-chewed food may pose HIV threat to infants

[Minuteman]

An article linked from a MedinePlus mailing-list email.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_115956.html

Excerpt:

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study from South Africa found that more than two-thirds of mothers and other caregivers pre-chew food for their infants -- possibly putting those babies at risk of HIV if the caregiver is HIV-positive.
...
"Once you become aware of the potential risk you have to share it with your patients, you have to make the community aware of the potential risk," Gaur concluded. "These studies should translate in terms of counseling and day-to-day practice."

Edited by Minuteman - 9/5/11 at 4:38am

[McGucks]

Why is this posted under Circumcision?

[Ron_Low]

Quote:

Originally Posted by caedenmomma 

Why is this posted under Circumcision?

I think because it represents just another tine on the devil's pitchfork, poking at parents to get them to avoid natural parenting in favor of things that can be sold to them. 

Obviously pre-mastication is millions of years old and is no threat.  It's the HIV virus that's the threat. ABC and testing, not packaged baby food, is the answer. 

Putting all that aside, at least it's a rare AIDS news item that doesn't mention forced genital cutting to thwart HIV. 

[Cyllya]

Originally Posted by Ron_Low 

Quote:

Originally Posted by caedenmomma 

Why is this posted under Circumcision?

 

I think because it represents just another tine on the devil's pitchfork, poking at parents to get them to avoid natural parenting in favor of things that can be sold to them.

Yeah, I does kind of seem relevant, since the least stupid-sounding pro-RIC argument I've heard is, "Men in third-world African countries get AIDS a little less often if they were circ'd as adults; therefore, you should circ your American baby when he's a couple days/hours old."

Because, apparently, lots of people are getting HIV not because of evil, evil foreskins but because their caregivers are feeding them HIV-infected blood. I bet education about things like this could go a long way and be more effective the circumcision in these countries.

[TyrantOfTheWeek]

Maybe the food should be cut up first? That way the risk of it having HIV would be much less.