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Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the presence of H. pylori in the dental plaque of children, who underwent endoscopy for upper GI symptoms and correlate it with the H. priori infection status of their parents. Methods: The study sample consisted of 35 children aged 4 to 14 years old and 49 family members (mother and/or father). Gastric biopsies were collected from all the children for CLO-test, histology and culture. Serology was used to assess the H. pylori status of the parents. Subgingival plaque samples were collected from the parents and children before endoscopy. Only samples positive by two different PCR methods were considered positive for the presence of H. pylori in dental plaque. Results: Fifteen out of 35 (43%) children were considered H. pylori infected by at least two methods (CLO, histology, culture). H. pylori was detected in dental plaques of 6/15 biopsy positive children and in only 1 of the 20 biopsy negative children. The presence of H. pylori in the dental plaque was significantly associated with H. pylori detection in gastric samples from the antrum (Fisher's p=0.027). On the basis of serology, 33.3% of mothers and 45% of fathers were considered positive for H. pylori infection. Children who had H. pylori identified in their plaque belonged to families who also had H. pylori in dental plaque. The presence of H. pylori in mother's dental plaque or positive serology was associated with H. pylori infection in the respective child (p=0.008 and p=0.002 respectively). Although the same trend was also observed for the fathers, the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.11 and p=0.576 respectively). Conclusions: Dental plaque of children and their families may play an important role-acting as a "reservoir" -for H. pylori transmission. The detection of H. pylori in mother's dental plaque seems to be a critical factor for the intrafamilial spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: H. pylori infection is common and its acquisition is mainly in young ages. It has been claimed that during early childhood intrafamilial contamination is more possible than from other sources outside home. Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the H. pylori status within families of children with upper GI symptoms. Methods: 45 symptomatic children without previous eradication therapy aged 4-16 years (median 11yrs) were investigated by [sup 13]C-UBT as well as all their 125 family members (parents and siblings) living in the same house. Socioeconomic status and conditions of living were also investigated. Results: According to H. pylori status the index children were divided into group A: 20 (44%) who were H. pylori infected and group B: 25 (56%) who were negative for H. pylori infection. Forty four out of 57 (77%) relatives of group A were also infected, while H. pylori was found only in 19 out of 68 (28%) relatives of group B, (p=0.000). In group A 79% of fathers, 90% of mothers and 65% of siblings were found H. pylori positive, while in group B 29%, 44% and 5.2% respectively (p=0.001, p=0.01,p=0.001). There was not found any difference concerning living conditions between H. pylori positive and negative children. Conclusions: The significantly higher prevalence H. pylori infection within families of H. pylori positive symptomatic children, compared to the negative ones, supports the hypothesis that transmission of H. pylori in children could be from the infected members of the family or the same source within house. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To genotype in terms of cagA and vacA status, H. pylori clinical strains, isolated from children and adults in the Greek population. Materials and Methods: 45 clinical strains from children and 56 from adult patients were isolated from gastric biopsies following gastroscopy. The presence of cagA as well as subtyping of vacA mid-and signal-region was effected by PCR on genomic DNA as described by Atherton et al, 1999 and Yamaoka et al., 1999. Results: 84 (83%) out of 101 strains were detected positive for the presence of cagA (86% in the adult and 80% in the children population). Out of 79 strains analysed, 52 belonged to the vacAs1 and 27 to the vacAs2 subtype (66% and 34% respectively). Out of 74 strains analysed, 23 (31%) were of the vacAm1 and 48 (65%) vacAm2 subtypes while 3 (4%) remained untypeable. The combinations of vacA subtypes observed are summarized in the following table: We did not detect the vacAs2/m1 subtype in the sample population. Conclusion: A high frequency of cagA positive strains was observed in the Greek population. There was no significant difference in the frequency between the vacA mid- and signal-region subtypes. No statistically significant differences among the subtypes were detected between the adult and the children study groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]