title: Helicobacter pylori infection with a duodenal ulcer in a 6-year-old boy.
abstract: A 6-year-old boy was hospitalized because of dark feces and facial pallor of 1 weeks duration. Other gastrointestinal symptoms, including vomiting and abdominal pain, were absent, but he felt dizziness when standing and fatigue on effort. Hematologic studies revealed iron-deficiency anemia, and endoscopy showed gastric erosions and a duodenal ulcer. All test results for Helicobacter pylori infection, including H. pylori antigen in stool, anti-H. pylori IgG immunoassay in serum, and the (13)C-urea breath test, were positive. Because an H. pylori-associated gastric ulcer had been diagnosed with endoscopy in the patients father 3 years earlier, father-son transmission was suspected. The patient was treated with triple-agent eradication therapy (proton pump inhibitor [lansoprazol], amoxicillin, and clarithromycin) for 2 weeks. One month after therapy was completed, eradication of H. pylori was confirmed by negative results on the stool antigen test. Peptic ulcer disease can occur in young children, as in this case. The stool antigen test kit is a useful and reliable method that can be used even in preschool children to diagnose H. pylori infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Nippon Medical School Graduate School of Medicine, Kanagawa, Japan. miharu@nms.ac.jp
authors.forename: Miharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hajikano
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Katsube
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takita
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Makiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asai
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujimatsu
authors.forename: Yoshiki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nishizawa
authors.forename: Mitsuhiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kamisago
authors.forename: Takehisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shioya
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tokunaga
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D004381:Duodenal Ulcer / Q000209:etiology*; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D016480:Helicobacter pylori; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male