title: Role of infected grandmothers in transmission of Helicobacter pylori to children in a Japanese rural town.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) increases with age and the main period of acquisition is childhood, the route of transmission of H. pylori infection remains unclear. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between prevalence of children and grandparents.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 838 consecutive children who attended the Urita clinic and whose blood was taken for work up were enrolled in the present study. They were 449 boys and 389 girls, with a mean age of 12.4 years. H. pylori serology of their family members who were living together in one house was picked up to analyse intra-familial clustering of H. pylori infection. The family members of these children consisted of 448 fathers, 597 mothers, 205 grandfathers, 361 grandmothers and 589 siblings.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The seropositive rates of mothers, grandmother and siblings in seropositive children were significantly higher than those in seronegative children. H. pylori infection in mothers and grandmothers was a marked risk factor for infection in the index children. Larger family size was not a risk factor for H. pylori infection. In contrast, having an infected father or grandfather was not an independent predictor for children infection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data demonstrate that not only mother-to-child transmission but also grandmother-to-child transmission is an important mechanism for the spread of H. pylori in a three-generation household.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Medicine and Emergency Care, Toho University School of Medicine, Omori Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. foo@eb.mbn.or.jp
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Urita
authors.forename: Toshiyasu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Naoyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawagoe
authors.forename: Ikutaka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Takemoto
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.forename: Sho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kijima
authors.forename: Hidenori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kido
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sugasawa
authors.forename: Taito
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: Yoshiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Honda
authors.forename: Kazushige
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakanishi
authors.forename: Nagato
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Motonobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sugimoto
authors.forename: Chisako
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Urita
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D016481:Helicobacter Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D012423:Rural Health
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial