ABSTRACT
Background. H. pylori infection leads to chronic gastritis in both children and adults. But recently, there are arising theories of its protective effect in diarrheal diseases. Aim. To explore the prevalence of H. pylori infection in children with bacterial diarrhea and compare it with healthy controls. Patients and Methods. Two matched groups consisted of 122 consecutive children, aged 24-72 months old, with acute bacterial diarrhea, who had Shigellosis (N = 68) and Salmonellosis (N = 54) as patients group and 204 healthy asymptomatic children as control group enrolled in this study. Results. The prevalence of H. pylori infection in healthy control children was significantly higher than in patients group, (odds ratio = 3.6, 95% CI: 1.33-9.5, P = 0.007). In our study, only 2/54 Salmonella infected patients and 3/68 of Shigellosis had evidence of H. pylori infection, while normal control children had 27/204 infected individuals. Conclusion. H. pylori infection may play a protective role against bacterial diarrhea in children. So it is important to consider all of the positive and negative aspects of H. pylori infection before its eradication.
ABSTRACT
An increased prevalence of immunoglobulin (Ig) A deficiency has been documented in a number of autoimmune diseases; however, its association with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) is a subject of debate. This study was performed to evaluate serum IgA levels in a group of pediatric patients with DM1. Three hundred patients with mean age of 12.6 ± 6.7 years were enrolled in this study. Serum IgA and other immunoglobulins levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay. Mean serum IgA level of patients was 271.0 ± 141.4 mg/dl. Only two patients had IgA deficiency (IgA < 10 mg/dl), who were two boys with ages of 9 and 10 years. Although associated autoimmune disorders were found in a number of patients with DM1, no other autoimmune disorder was detected in these two patients with IgA deficiency. Serum levels of all other immunoglobulins were normal. Serum IgA levels did not significantly differ by grouping the patients according to age variation, sex distribution, disease duration, and associated disorders. There was no significant correlation between IgA levels and hemoglobin A1c. This study showed the prevalence of IgA deficiency in Iranian patients with DM1 as 0.7% (1:150), which is much higher than reported prevalences in general populations. Further studies are needed for better understanding the possible etiologies of increased IgA deficiency in DM1 and its effects on diabetes control.
