A report from a Chicago-area news service has documented another tragic case of powdered infant formula causing an infant's death. The Beacon News released a report on Friday detailing the unfortunate story of Conor McGray, a child born prematurely at Rush-Copley Medical Centre in Aurora, Illinois. After being fed on Mead Johnson's Enfamil powdered infant formula, Conor developed a bacterial infection that led to his death. The infection is believed to have been caused by the Enterobacter sakazakii organism.

The Beacon News report found that there have been two cases of severe E. sakazakii infection in Illinois, as well as cases in at least 17 other states in the USA. Many more cases are unreported, and many infants who die of meningitis are not tested for the organism.

This tragedy highlights the need for parents to be made aware that powdered formula is not sterile. At greatest risk are infants with weak immune systems and those born prematurely. Premature babies are often fed "fortified" powdered formula, despite the fact that in 2002 the Food and Drug Administration issued a memo warning against the practice after an outbreak of E sakazakii infection in Tennessee.

While this report is encouraging because it is spreading information about the dangers of powdered formula, it is discouraging that human milk banking is not a larger part of the public dialogue surrounding this issue. When mothers cannot breastfeed their babies, the best alternative is breastmilk from another mother. Human milk banking has saved the lives of many premature and other vulnerable infants, and yet we are still a long way away from being able to provide this life-saving resource to all infants in Canada and the USA. Until bresatmilk is recognized as the first and best line of defence against these deadly infections, it is likely that more infants will die needlessly.

For the full report see:

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1279542,2_1_AU14_BABY

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