EVOLUTION OF HELICOBACTER-PYLORI POSITIVITY IN INFANTS BORN FROM POSITIVE MOTHERS

To evaluate the mother-child transmission of anti-Helicobacter pylori antibodies, we investigated 562 pregnant women by means of a commercia lly available second-generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of anti-H. pylori IgG (Malakit Helicobacter pylori). One hundred twenty-eight of the 562 women had a positive serology for H. pylori. C-13-Urea breath tests were performed in 85 seropositive and i n 65 randomly selected seronegative subjects. These breath tests were positive in 82 of the 85 (96.5%) seropositive and in none of the seron egative subjects, reflecting the actual presence of H. pylori in the g astric mucosa of the seropositive women. Cord blood levels for the Mal akit Helicobacter pylori were positive in all infants born to seroposi tive mothers and negative in those born to seronegative mothers. In al l infants the previously positive titers had turned negative by the ag e of 3 months. At the age of 12 to 15 months C-13-urea breath tests we re performed in 67 infants born to seropositive mothers. These breath tests were positive in only one infant. By the time the C-13-urea brea th tests were performed, the serology had turned negative in all infan ts with the exception of the one with the positive breath test. We con clude that the IgG antibodies against H. pylori cross the placental ba rrier and that, despite the present H. pylori infection in the mothers , infants born to these H. pylori-positive women do not appear to have an increased risk of developing a H. pylori-associated gastritis duri ng the first year of life.