شيوع عفونت هليكوباكترپيلوري در دانش آموزان دبستاني در گيلان

Prevalance of H.pylori Infection in Children in Guilan, the North Province of Iran

Background and objective: The aim of this research to evaluated the prevalance of H . pylori infection among children in primary school in Rasht .(The north province of Iran) Materials and methods: The cross -sectional study was conducted from October to January in 2005 in primary school. Nine hundred sixty one case were studied from four parts of province of Rasht city. The fecal antigen test was used to detect fecal excretion of H. Pylori antigen .The stool samples were collected as soon as possible; maximum time 1 hour after sampling. The samples were frozen at -20 ʹ c until analysis was performed. The stool assay was performed using the HP AGT kit. The data were analyzed by x2 and fisher exact test. Results: Four Hundred seventy five boys and 486 girls were evaluated . Their ages ranged from 7 to 11 years. Totally 384 (40%) children were diagnosed as H. Pylori positive in stool test. There were no significant differences between any age groups. We found a higher prevalence of H. Pylori in stool (13.3%) of individuals who used well water and municipal tap water. Conclusion: The result of this study suggests that besides the oral - oral route , the most important pathway of transmission of H. Pylori in this population is through the consumption of well water and municipal tap water . By boiling and mineral water we can minimize the chance of transmission of H. Pylori.