Helicobacter pylori Infection: Further Evidence for the Role of Feco‐Oral Transmission

Abstract

In health-care workers caring for a population with a high prevalence of H. pylori infection, there is an association with fecal transmission. This, however, does not rule out the possibility of other ways of transmission.

Serologic Evidence for Fecal–Oral Transmission of Helicobacter pylori

“…A recent case-control study among health-care workers found exposure to patient feces increased the risk of H. pylori infection and exposure to oral secretions was not associated with H. pylori infection, suggesting fecal-oral transmission may be as viable or more viable as a transmission model than oral-oral or gastro-oral transmisson. 12 However, Parsonnet and others 10 reported successful isolation of H. pylori from induced vomit (using ipecac) from all infected patients in the their study (N = 16) and from air sampled during vomiting from 38% (N = 6) and concluded that vomiting (gastro-oral) transmission may be the most viable mode of transmission. As such, fecal-oral transmission may not be the only mode of H. pylori transmission.…”

“…Prior studies examining the potential for fecal-oral transmission of H. pylori yielded mixed conclusions warranting further investigation. [7][8][9][10][11][12] Better understanding of H. pylori transmission is critical in developing primary prevention interventions and reducing reliance on secondary and tertiary prevention efforts that may exacerbate H. pylori antibiotic resistance. 13 Prior studies exploring potential fecal-oral transmission of H. pylori have used hepatitis A virus (HAV) seropositivity as an indicator for fecal-oral exposure.…”

H pylori : Treatment for the patient only or the whole family?

“…H pylori has been cultured in vomit, feces and sputum [2,3,11,12,16,25] . Although intra-familial transmission is a major factor contributing to H pylori infection, the relative contributions of close interpersonal contact and genetic similarity are not known [10,[26][27][28] .…”

Low Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection evaluated by stool antigen test in preschool and school children

“…Despite its great prevalence in developing countries, the epidemiology of Helicobacter pylori infection is not yet well understood. There are risky groups identified, including people who spent their infancy in developing countries (15), some ethnic groups (1) and health workers (2). In developed countries, the prevalence of the infection in children is typically less than 10%, and incidence rates are lower than 1%, whereas in developing countries the prevalence in children is greater than 25%, and the incidence ranges from 6 to 14% by year (8,14).…”