Seroepidemiology of Helicobacter pylori infection in a population of Egyptian children

Background To describe the seroepidemiology of Helicobacter pylori infectio n in a population of Egyptian children under 3 years. Methods A cohort of children under 36 months, residing in Abu Homos, Egypt, were visited at home twice weekly. Information regarding the child's breas tfeeding status was obtained, and periodic anthropometric and household hyg iene surveys were performed. In June 1997, a serosurvey was conducted on 18 7 study participants over 6 months old. The serosurvey was repeated in Octo ber 1997. All sera were tested for IgG antibodies to H. pylori. Results The June prevalence of H. pylori infection was 10%, and the inciden ce from June to October was 15%. Between June and October, 8 (42%) of 19 ch ildren that were positive for H. pylori infection seroreverted to negative. All seroreversions occurred in children 6-17 months. Other than age, no so ciodemographic or environmental factor was significantly associated with in cident Pi. pylori infection. There was no significant differences in the we ight-for-age, weight-for-height, and height-for-age z-scores between childr en with and without prevalent H. pylori infection. Conclusions Infection with H. pylori is common in Egyptian children under 3 years old and is not associated with malnutrition. No predictors for H. py lori infection were found. Our preliminary evidence for transient H. pylori infections in young children needs to be confirmed in a prospective cohort study, and predictors for persistent infection should be sought, since onl y these may be relevant to the known sequellae of infection.