HELICOBACTER-PYLORI IN THE DRINKING-WATER IN PERU

Background & Aims: An association between water sources and the preval ence of Helicobacter pylori infection in Peruvian children was shown p reviously, The aim of this study was to confirm the presence of H. pyl ori in drinking water in the same community, Methods: Forty-eight drin king water samples from different locations in pueblo jovenes (new tow ns) near Lima were collected, Samples were frozen until technology adv anced to the point at which H. pylori might be reliably detected; Immu nomagnetic beads coated with anti-H. pylori immunoglobulin Gs were use d to concentrate H. pylori, and two polymerase chain reaction assays b ased on different H. pylori genes were used, One was a polymerase chai n reaction for the detection of the H. pylori adhesin subunit encoding gene, and the second was a previously validated H. pylori 16S ribosom al RNA reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, Results: The e xpected 375-base pair fragment from the adhesin gene was amplified fro m 24 water samples, The expected 500-base pair fragment of the 16S rib osomal RNA and the 375-base pair fragment of the adhesin gene were amp lified from 11 of the samples, Conclusions: These results confirm the presence of H. pylori in drinking water in Peru and are consistent wit h conclusions from a previous epidemiological study of the same popula tion, This provides additional evidence for waterborne transmission of H. pylori in some environments.