p. 1160). Rotavirus causes up to 50 percent of cases of gastroenteritis in infants in the U.S. Although Weinberg et al. found that breast-feeding alleviated the severity of the symptoms of rotavirus infection, they could not pinpoint the protective factors within the breastmilk, which performed the protective function (Newburg et al., 1998, p. 1160).
The following section is a discussion of four original scientific studies:
In the first article, "Increasing breast-feeding rates to reduce infant illness at the community level," by Anne L. Wright, Mark Bauer, Audrey Naylor, Emily Sutcliffe and Larry Clark, the effects of a campaign to promote breast-feeding is analyzed to determine its effectiveness in lowering the rates of infant illnesses. In this experiment, they succeeded in increasing the practice of breast-feeding. As a result, the researchers found that the infants were also less likely to suffer from illnesses. This article bears tremendous relevance to this discussion of breast-feeding on two levels. First, the researchers assessed the effec
...