Abstract

BELKIND-GERSON, Jaime et al. Incidence of infection by Helicobacter pylori in a cohort of infants from the State of Morelos. Salud pública Méx [online]. 2001, vol.43, n.2, pp.122-126. ISSN 0036-3634.

OBJECTIVE: To study the incidence of Helicobacter pylori infection in infants from the State of Morelos, Mexico. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cohort of 110 healthy infants was studied between 1997 and 1999. Serum samples were collected from mothers and their infants at 2, 6, 18, and 24 months of life. All serum samples were tested for antibodies against Helicobacter pylori with the ELISA test. A questionnaire was used to collect socio-economic and clinical data. Associations among selected variables and Helicobacter pylori infection were determined using Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: Two thirds of mothers and six (5.5%) infants tested positive. Two of the six positive infants were born to positive mothers; both of them became negative before age two. The other four infants remained positive. Although not statistically significant, a vaginal birth and more than five people living in the household are possible risk factors for infant H. pylori infection. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the previously reported high prevalence of infection by H. pyloriI in Mexican children, in this population we found a low incidence of infection in infants up to two years of age. The English version of this paper is available at: http://www.insp.mx/salud/index.html

Keywords : Helicobacter infections; incidence; infant; Mexico.

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