Low rates of Helicobacter pylori reinfection in children
Section snippets
Materials and methods
A prospective study of children treated successfully for H. pylori infection at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin, Ireland, between February 1991 and July 1996 was performed. The indications for initial gastroduodenoscopy included abdominal pain, failure to thrive, vomiting, and hematemesis. H. pylori infection was diagnosed if children had a positive culture or if both histological examination and rapid urease test (Clo, Delta West, Australia) results were positive.
Children were
Results
Fifty-five of 60 eligible children participated in the study. Four children could not be contacted for follow-up, and 1 family refused to participate. There were 3 pairs of siblings in the study. All of these 6 children remained uninfected. To analyze risk factors, only 1 child from each family was included in the analysis. The oldest child was considered the index case, and results are therefore presented for 52 children. Details of the children in the study are given in Table 1.
The mean
Discussion
This is the first study to report on the risk of reinfection in children after successful treatment for H. pylori. Primary infection in adults is uncommon13, 24; therefore, it is not surprising that the reinfection rate in adults after treatment is approximately 1%/yr.14, 15, 25, 26 It is now accepted that H. pylori infection is almost always acquired in childhood.11, 13 Although the exact age of infection remains unknown, earlier studies27, 29, 28 suggest that infection occurs in
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Nurse Marie Durnin and Sister Anna Lloyd for their help in organizing this project; Philip Johnson of Bureau of Stable Isotopes Analysis, United Kingdom, for his support in carrying out urea breath tests; and Dr. Billy Bourke for his critical review of the manuscript.
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