Relation between Helicobacter Pylori infection in Children and their Parents

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Helicobacter pylori is usually acquired in early childhood and it clonizes half of the world's population. More understanding its transmission patterns is important for future preventive strategies. Here we studied the seroprevalence of H. Pylori infection in family units to identify the perceptive risk factors of inter-familial transmission. Methods and Materials: We entered 116 consecutive children (2.5-16 yr) who underwent the upper GI endoscopy and gastric mucosal Biopsy for H. pylori detection. Indications of endoscopy among these patients were chronic abdominal pain, recurrent nausea and vomiting, chronic diareohea; their parents were evaluated serology of H. pylori specific antibody. Results: Gastric mucosal biopsy revealed H. Pylori prevalence of 60.3% among children and serologic study revealed that 57.8% of their mothers and 37.9% of their fathers were infected. We found a strong association between Helicobacter pylori positivity of children and mothers (P value =0.03) .The mean age of infected children was 8.952.82 years and the mean age of uninfected ones was 7.313.41. None of the other environmental or life style conditions such as household conditions, number of family members, drinking water source and type of garbage disposal, use of Refrigerant were not statistically significant association with H.Pylori infection. Conclusion: The results suggest that infected parents, especially infected mothers, may have a key role in transmission of H. Pylori to their children.