Helicobacter pylori in children.

Helicobacter pylori infection in early childhood may differ in many aspects compared to infection in adulthood: the immune response in the gut, the type and prevalence of complications within and outside the stomach, and the impact on long-term health. In high prevalence countries, transient infections seem to be common in infants and toddlers, and the consequences of this phenomenon on the short- and long-term immune response are still unclear. Other controversial issues are related to the question of which H. pylori-infected children benefit from treatment and which is the best regimen to eradicate the infection in the presence of a worldwide increasing antibiotic resistance. The first large-scale randomized placebo-controlled vaccination trial in schoolchildren indicates that prevention of the infection may be possible.