Short review about Helicobacter pylori infection in pediatric age: epidemiological and clinical findings, diagnosis, therapy and role of probiotics.

Helicobacterpylori (Hp) is mainly acquired during childhood and causes one of the most widespread infections worldwide; it is recognised as a cause of gastritis and peptic ulcer and it has been classified as a group A carcinogen by World Health Organization. This infection can be diagnosed by invasive techniques requiring endoscopy and biopsy (histological examination, rapid urease test, culture) and by non invasive tests (serology, urea breath test, detection of Hp antigen stool specimen). The gold standard in the eradication of Hp is one-week triple therapy: one proton pump inhibitor (PPI) and two antibiotics (mainly nitromidazoles, macrolides and beta-lactames). It is possible the use of probiotics during this therapy to reduce the adverse effects, to improve tolerability and compliance of multiple antibiotics regimens.