UNLABELLED: The aim of this study was to specify epidemiologic particularities of Helicobacter pylori infection among asymptomatic Tunisian children. POPULATION AND METHODS: A sample of 191 Tunisian healthy children studied for a two-month-period of time in protection center for mothers and children in a Tunis area. The children had benefited of an oriented questionnaire and a serological study of Helicobacter pylori. RESULTS: The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection was 30.4% (58 of 191). This prevalence increased with age (21% < 5 years vs 69% > 6 years: p < 0.04). The low socio-economic level and the familial antecedents of peptic illness constitute the main risk factors of Helicobacter pylori infection (p < 0.05). Both ways of transmission: oro-oral and fecal-oral seem to coexist among children.
UNLABELLED: The aim of this study was to specify epidemiologic particularities of Helicobacter pylori infection among asymptomatic Tunisian children. POPULATION AND METHODS: A sample of 191 Tunisian healthy children studied for a two-month-period of time in protection center for mothers and children in a Tunis area. The children had benefited of an oriented questionnaire and a serological study of Helicobacter pylori. RESULTS: The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection was 30.4% (58 of 191). This prevalence increased with age (21% < 5 years vs 69% > 6 years: p < 0.04). The low socio-economic level and the familial antecedents of peptic illness constitute the main risk factors of Helicobacter pylori infection (p < 0.05). Both ways of transmission: oro-oral and fecal-oral seem to coexist among children.