Effect of Supplementation with Bovine Colostrum in Recurrent Pneumonia in children

Radha Mohan.M; Venkateshwarlu.P; Gopal Singh.K; Snigdha; Sharada

Volume : VIII, Issue : VI, June - 2019

Effect of Supplementation with Bovine Colostrum in Recurrent Pneumonia in children

Radha Mohan. M, Venkateshwarlu. P, Gopal Singh. K, Snigdha, Sharada

Abstract :

Background: Bovine colostrum (BC) is also known as cow milk colostrum, bovine colostrum immune milk, lactobin, LC2N, BCC (bovine colostrum concentrate), hyperimmune milk, early milk, and lactoferrin. At the turn of the 20th century, the use of bovine colostrum was advocated to protect infants against both human and bovine infections [11–14]. This article provides a systematic, critical evaluation of the current state of knowledge in this area. Aim: To study the effect of supplementation of bovine colostrum in children suffering from recurrent pneumonia in age group from 6 months to 5 years. Materials and Methods: This is an observational study conducted upon 47 children (n=47) who were attending to outpatient department with history of frequent attacks of cough, fever and eathlessness. Age Group included was 6 months to 5 years. This study was conducted from March, 2017 to Oct, 2018 in a Teaching Hospital in Nizamabad, Telangana State. Results: After 2 months of supplementation with bovine colostrum in children with recurrent pneumonia 46.81% (n=22) of them had decreased attacks of pneumonia, severity of symptoms and hospital admissions. There is 38.66 % improvement in total number of pneumonia attacks and 46.29 % improvement in hospital admissions with pneumonia. In 53.19 % (n=25) of children the severity of symptoms, number of pneumonia attacks and hospital admissions were almost remain same or no significant change was noted. Conclusion: Recurrent GI and respiratory infections represent a serious public health problem in developing countries like our country [14,23]. Bovine colostrum is effective in the prophylaxis of recurrent pneumonia as it reduces the number of episodes and the hospitalization due to these infections. Results of this study suggest that bovine colostrum could be provided as a therapeutic option for children with recurrent pneumonia.