Herpes simplex virus in breast milk.

The article by Dunkle et al (Pediatrics 63:250, 1979) describes a 6-day-old infant with oropharyngeal lesions due to primary infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). Recovery of the same virus type from breast milk on day 9 suggested that the milk was the source of the infant's infection. An alternate hypothesis, that the infection was acquired during delivery and subsequently colonized the breast, was considered unlikely since the mother had neither genital nor breast lesions.