title: Epidemiological ins and outs of helicobacter pylori: a review.
abstract: Helicobacter pylori infection is now recognised as a worldwide problem. It is the most common cause of chronic gastritis, and is strongly linked to peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer. A comprehensive understanding of epidemiological ins and outs of H. pylori infection is very important in solving the patho-physiological enigma and might help in leading towards better management and prognosis of infection. This article presents a review of the literature on the epidemiology of H. pylori infection from 2006 to 2011. The authors used Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms 'Helicobacter' with 'epidemiology,' 'transmission' or 'risk factor' to search PubMed database. All relevant studies identified were included. Despite extensive medical advancement, many questions on Helicobacter pylori epidemiology still remain unanswered. Further studies are, therefore, required to gain a better understanding of the transmission pathway of this notorious pathogen.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Jibran Sualeh
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Muhammad
authors.forename: Syed Faisal
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Zaidi
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D005756:Gastritis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D014943:Global Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D010437:Peptic Ulcer / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012008:Recurrence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology