ANTIBODIES TO ESCHERICHIA COLI O ANTIGENS AND THE IN‐VITRO BACTERIOSTATIC PROPERTIES OF HUMAN MILK AND ITS IgA

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Abstract
Only a very small part of the iron‐reversed bacteriostatic activity of milk against Escherichia coli, demonstrable in vitro, is due to its anti‐O antibody. Most of its growth‐inhibitory activity is due to another lactoferrin‐dependent, non‐specific system. IgA prepared from milk is bacteriostatic for E. coli in the presence of lactoferrin, if it contains O‐antibody for the indicator strain and if the strain is susceptible. Susceptibility depends to some extent on virulence, since those inhibited by IgA antibody to their own O‐antigens were enteropathogenic or enterotoxigenic, whereas the growth of commensal strains was inhibited only slightly or not at all.