Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in people with intellectual disability in a residential care centre in Israel

High Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori Infection in Special Needs Schools in Japan

Background: Developmental disorders and high Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection rates have been reported. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of H. pylori in a special needs school where all students had developmental disorders in Japan. Methods: In 2017, third-grade junior high school and second- and third-grade high school students attending a special needs school with developmental disorders were enrolled. Participants of Saga Prefecture's H. pylori test and treat project, which comprised third-grade junior high school students not from special needs school, were assigned to the control group. Results: In the control group, H. pylori positive results were 3.18% (228/7,164) students. Similarly, in developmental disorder group, H. pylori positive results were 6.80% (13/191) students. For the developmental disorder and control groups, this present examination sensitivity was 7.03% (13/185), specificity was 96.76% (6,815/7,043), positive predictive value was 5.39% (13/241), negative predictive value was 97.54% (6,815/6,987), Likelihood ratio of a positive result 2.17 and Odds ratio was 2.26 (95% confidence interval: 1.27-4.03, p = 0.005). Conclusion: The prevalence of H. pylori infection was significantly higher in adolescents with developmental disorders than in typically developing adolescents.

Epidemiology and diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection

There have been no major breakthroughs in the field of epidemiology and diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection over the last year, thus for this reason, these two topics will be treated in the same chapter. Information on the incidence of infection, as in the study of Malaty et al. are now being published from long-term cohort follow-ups. The route of transmission of H. pylori remains controversial, with circumstantial evidence for infection via exposure to animals, contaminated water supplies and oral reservoirs being reported. The value of citric acid to improve urea breath test (UBT) results has been documented. A novel stool test has been released on the market and we are awaiting more information, while detection of antibodies in urine gave satisfactory results. However, the most interesting data comes from the study of McColl et al. who clearly proved on a large sample and a 1-year follow-up that the 'test and treat' strategy using UBT, as proposed in the Maastricht Consensus Report, is definitely the method to use.