Familial clustering of Helicobacter pylori infection: population based study   Commentary: Helicobacter pylori---the story so far

Abstract

Objectives To assess the rate of intrafamilial transmission of Helicobacter pylori infection in the general population and the role of a family's social background. Design Population survey. Setting Campogalliano, a town in northern Italy with about 5000 residents. Participants 3289 residents, accounting for 416 families. Main outcome measures Prevalence of H pyloriinfection assessed by presence of IgG antibodies to H pylori. Results The overall prevalence of H pylori infection was 58%. Children belonging to families with both parents infected had a significantly higher prevalence of H pylori infection (44%) than children from families with only one (30%) or no parents (21%) infected (P < 0.001). Multivariate analyses confirmed that children with both parents positive had double the risk of being infected by H pylori than those from families in which both parents were negative. Family social status was independently related to infection in children, with those from blue collar or farming families showing an increased risk of infection compared with children of white collars workers (odds ratio 2.02, 95% confidence interval 1.16 to 3.49). Conclusions H pylori infection clusters within families belonging to the same population. Social status may also be a risk factor. This suggests either a person to person transmission or a common source of exposure for H pylori infection.

Helicobacter pylori infection and chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura: long-term results of bacterium eradication and association with bacterium virulence profiles

“…*Nonresponders to eradication treatment. infection in our series is not higher than that (58%) in the general population of the area of Modena province, 36 or that (67%) in healthy Italian blood donors aged 50 years or older, 37 in keeping with the data from the other countries, where the prevalence of infection in patients with ITP is similar or lower than that of the general population of the same area, 6,10,13,38,39 with rare exceptions. 15,40 In our study, we observed a platelet improvement in 68% of patients with eradicated infection (60.5% of patients infected; 30.6% of total patients with ITP); in about 1500 patients so far reported in the literature, including the 3 US and Spanish cohorts with the lowest responses, the rate of response was about 53%.…”

Helicobacter pylori: recent advances in the study of its pathogenicity and prevention

“…The most accepted hypothesis is that the organism is transmitted through close personal contact and that the human being is the only significant reservoir of infection. 49 The detection of the bacterium in saliva, dental plaque, diarrheal stools, and vomit implicates oral-oral or fecal-oral transmission as possible routes of infection. Contaminated water and raw vegetables could be a source of H. pylori in the fecal-oral transmission pathway.…”

Seropositividad a Helicobacter pylori entre estudiantes universitarios y sus familias: Estudio comparativo

“…El tamaño de muestra se determinó con la fórmula para comparar dos proporciones (28) -prevalencia intrafamiliar de 30 a 72,5% (10,22), un nivel de confianza de 95%, y un poder de 80%-resultando un total de 14 individuos por grupo.…”

“…Se ha establecido la probabilidad de que la infección podría tener la ruta oral-oral o fecal-oral (10,11), sin embargo, no hay conclusiones de ello por la gran diversidad de factores tanto del huésped como del agente en las diferentes zonas del mundo y los grupos estudiados. La infección se adquiere con mayor frecuencia durante la niñez (1 a 5 años), persistiendo en forma crónica probablemente durante toda la vida de los individuos (12,13).…”

“…Por otra parte, aquellos niños que tienen ambos padres infectados por H. pylori presentan una prevalencia más alta que aquellos que solamente tienen un padre o hermanos contagiados (10,23). Es importante señalar que se ha comunicado una positividad del 73% entre los integrantes de las familias cuando alguno de los niños se encuentra infectado con H. pylori (24).…”