The effect of bovine colostrum on viral upper respiratory tract infections in children with immunoglobulin A deficiency Türkan Patırog ˘ lu 1 and Meda Kondolot 2 1Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hematology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey 2 Department of Pediatrics, Division of Social Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey Abstract Introduction: Immunoglobulin A (IgA)-deficient patients predominantly suffer from respiratory and gastrointestinal infections since secretory IgA has important functions to protect mucosal surfaces. Objective: To evaluate the effect of bovine colostrum, rich in IgA, on the treatment of viral upper respiratory tract (URT) infections in IgA-deficient children. Methods: Thirty-one IgA-deficient children with viral URT infections were included in this double-blind, placebo-controlled study, and randomly oral bovine colostrum or placebo was given three times a day for 1 week. Samples of saliva IgA were collected before treatment, after the administration of the first dose, and after the last dose. Mothers of the children completed a daily questionnaire regarding the severity of the infection and any adverse effects. Results: The bovine colostrum group had a lower infection severity score than the placebo group after 1 week (respectively 0.81  0.83, 3.00  1.85; P = 0.000), but there was no difference between the salivary IgA levels of the groups. Conclusion: This is the first study to evaluate the effect of bovine colostrum in IgA-deficient children, and no adverse effects were observed. However, further studies are needed to confirm the efficacy and safety of bovine colostrum in IgA-deficient patients. Please cite this paper as: Patırog ˘lu T and Kondolot M. The effect of bovine colos- trum on viral upper respiratory tract infections in children with immunoglobulin A deficiency. Clin Respir J 2011; DOI:10.1111/j.1752-699X.2011.00268.x. Introduction Immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficiency is the most common primary immunoglobulin deficiency that is caused by a defect of terminal lymphocyte differentia- tion. Although most individuals with IgA deficiency are deemed to be clinically asymptomatic, symptom- atic patients may suffer from recurrent infections, allergic disorders, autoimmune disorders or malignan- cies. Secretory IgA serves a variety of functions, to protect the vast mucosal surfaces, such as the linings of the respiratory, gastrointestinal and genitourinary tracts (1–6). Therefore, respiratory system infections are the most common findings in IgA-deficient patients; antibiotics are prescribed in those with bac- terial infections. However, there is no specific treat- ment for IgA-deficient patients (1, 5). Mothers’ milk contains secretory IgA against a wide variety of microbial antigens, and these antibodies are able to neutralise toxins and viruses (7). The presence of closely homologous bioactive components in bovine colostrum has led to the use of bovine colostrum to Key words bovine colostrum – immunoglobulin A deficiency – salivary IgA – viral upper respiratory tract infection Correspondence Meda Kondolot, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Social Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Erciyes University, 38010 Kayseri, Turkey. Tel: +90 437 49 37 Fax: +90 352 437 58 25 email: medakondolot@yahoo.com Received: 15 February 2011 Revision requested: 23 June 2011 Accepted: 17 July 2011 DOI:10.1111/j.1752-699X.2011.00268.x Authorship and contributorship Türkan Patırog ˘ lu designed the study and collected data. Meda Kondolot performed the study, collected and analysed data and wrote the paper. Ethics This study was approved by the Erciyes University School of Medicine Ethics Committee. Conflict of interest The authors have stated explicitly that there are no conflicts of interest in connection with this article. The Clinical Respiratory Journal ORIGINAL ARTICLE 1 The Clinical Respiratory Journal (2011) • ISSN 1752-6981 © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd