A study of Helicobacter pylori-associated gastritis patterns in Iraq and their association with strain virulence.
OBJECTIVE
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection causes peptic ulceration and gastric adenocarcinoma. In Iraq, gastric cancer is rare. We investigated whether infected adults had the antral-predominant pattern of H. pylori-associated gastritis, which does not predispose to cancer.


METHODS
We evaluated histopathological changes by the Sydney scoring system in gastric biopsies taken from 30 H. pylori-infected adults and studied the correlation of these changes with the virulence factors. The Mann-Whitney test was used for the comparison of histopathological data. The presence or absence of each pathological index was evaluated with respect to the possession of virulence factors by the infecting H. pylori strain using the chi(2) test.


RESULTS
Gastric lymphocyte infiltration was more prominent in the antrum (P = 0.01). Neutrophil infiltration was mild and gastric mucosal atrophy was rare. No relationship was found between virulence factors and histopathological changes.


CONCLUSIONS
The mild pathology and antral-predominant gastritis help explain the low cancer rate in Iraq.
Hussein
Nawfal R
NR
Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK. nawfal.hussein@nottingham.ac.uk
Napaki
Sarbar M
SM
Atherton
John C
JC