The mother as source of Helicobacter pylori infection.
BACKGROUND
To further elucidate the intrafamilial transmission of Helicobacter pylori infection, we investigated the occurrence of infection by parental infection status in a large community-based birth cohort of children from Germany.


METHODS
Parental infection (at birth) and children's infection (at age 3 years) were determined by C-urea breath test and by monoclonal antigen stool test.


RESULTS
Twenty of 834 children (2.4%) were found to be infected. The odds ratio for H. pylori infection of the child was 12.9 (95% confidence interval = 3.2-52.5) if the mother was infected and 1.4 (0.4-4.6) if the father was infected, after adjustment for infection status of the other parent and for nationality. The number of older siblings was not a risk factor for H. pylori infection of the child.


CONCLUSIONS
This longitudinal study suggests that infected mothers are the main source of H. pylori infection of their children.
Weyermann
Maria
M
Department of Epidemiology, The German Centre for Research on Ageing, Heidelberg, Germany.
Adler
Guido
G
Brenner
Hermann
H
Rothenbacher
Dietrich
D
D001944:Breath Tests; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005243:Feces; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers