Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori Infection in Spouses and Its Clinical Significance

Yoo, Jae Young; Park, Choong Kee; Kim, Hak Yang; Kim, Yong Bum; Kim, Jong Hyeok; Chang, Woong Ki; Kim, Jai Sam; Park, Soo Jong

Abstract

Background/Aims; The transmission mode of Helicobaeter pylori infection has not been definded. We investigated the seroprevalence of H. pylori infection in spouses of infected patients to clarify the transmission mode of H. pylori infection,
METHODS
Sera were collected from 26 spouses of infected patients and examined for H. pylori infection by serology. We compared the antibody responses to H. pylori proteins (CagA, VacA and urease subunits) in 5 couples.
RESULTS
H. pylori infection was observed in 20 out of 26 spouses (77%). The infection rate was increased from 50% in less than 10 years of cohabitation to 100% in more than 31 years of cohabitation. The gastroscopic exarnination for the infected patients revealed chronic gastritis in 6, gastric ulcer in 9, duodenal ulcer in 8, concurrent gastric and duodenal ulcer in 2, and gastric cancer in 1. In spouses, the gastroscopy showed chronic gastritis in 10 and pyloric canal ulcer with H. pylori infection in 1. The couple with pyloric canal ulcer showed similar antibody responses to CagA, VacA and urease subunits.
CONCLUSIONS
This study suggested that H. pylori might be transmitted via oral to oral route. Further study about the risk of gastroduodenal lesion in spouses is needed.