Steve Goodall wrote:
>A GP phoned last Friday. A 32 year old non-pregnant female had
>presented with a bottle containing what she claimed was her own
>breast milk. At this stage the GP is not interested in investigating
>galactorrhoea, but would like to establish whether the sample is
>truly her breast milk (as opposed to cow's milk etc). The GP says
>the sample "does not smell like breast milk" but, not being an expert
>in these matters, I am unable to comment. The sample is slightly
>pink, and appears to contain blood, but has not been tested for
>anything yet.
Logically the bottle can contain:
a) Womans milk
b) Cow milk
c) A mixture of womans and cow milk
d) A mixture of womans milk with any other stuff
e) A mixture of cows milk with any other stuff
f) A mixture of womans and cows milk and any other stuff
g) Neither womans nor cow milk
The woman stated that the bottle contained her milk and nothing else.
At first you must confirm that it contains human milk. Among methods commonly
used in the clinical chemistry laboratory the suggestion from Gerald A
Maguire seems to be the most appropriate, i.e. testing for the presence
of human IgA. If you are using an immunochemical method this method is
specific for _human_ IgA. If this component is absent, the sample is a fake.
Then you must confirm that no bovine material is present, and this is obviously
more difficult. Maybe some veterinarian laboratory has a method for bovine
IgA or any other bovine protein present i milk.
Dr Holland's contribution was a nice Java-script, but if you want to fake
something you probably also can fake these components. Furthermore there is
a broad range of overlap giving the result "Equivocal" as a Putative Source.
Mr Sten Öhman, PhD
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From: Mr Sten Öhman, PhD
Postal address: p.o. Box 133, S-590 70 Ljungsbro, Sweden
E-Mail address: [log in to unmask]
Phone: int: +46 13 219020, nat: 013-219020
Fax: int: +46 13 219021, nat: 013-219021
Personal home page: http://hem1.passagen.se/stoh7971/
Company home page: http://www.elfinilab.se/
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