ABSTRACT
UNLABELLED: The aim of this study was to specify epidemiologic particularities of Helicobacter pylori infection among asymptomatic Tunisian children. POPULATION AND METHODS: A sample of 191 Tunisian healthy children studied for a two-month-period of time in protection center for mothers and children in a Tunis area. The children had benefited of an oriented questionnaire and a serological study of Helicobacter pylori. RESULTS: The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection was 30.4% (58 of 191). This prevalence increased with age (21% < 5 years vs 69% > 6 years: p < 0.04). The low socio-economic level and the familial antecedents of peptic illness constitute the main risk factors of Helicobacter pylori infection (p < 0.05). Both ways of transmission: oro-oral and fecal-oral seem to coexist among children.
Subject(s)
Helicobacter Infections/epidemiology , Helicobacter pylori/pathogenicity , Adolescent , Child , Child Welfare , Child, Preschool , Epidemiologic Studies , Female , Helicobacter Infections/etiology , Humans , Infant , Male , Prevalence , Prospective Studies , Risk Factors , Social Class , Tunisia/epidemiologyABSTRACT
The low efficiency of trivalent oral polio vaccine (TOPV) in inducing protective antibody titres to polio3 is a problem of great importance in many regions of the world. A prospective study was conducted in 121 Tunisian infants aged 3 months during routine immunization with TOPV under carefully controlled conditions. Seroconversion rates to polio1, polio2 and polio3, one month after the third dose, were 94.7, 100 and 89.5%, respectively. The kinetics of the antibody response showed delayed and more difficult responses to polio3 compared to polio2 and polio1. The following host related factors, previously suggested to interfere with the immune response, were assessed: maternal antibodies; breast-feeding; concurrent enteric infections; and other illnesses. The main factor associated with the lack of seroconversion was concurrent infection with non-polio enteroviruses (NPE) which was found in 50% of non-responders to polio1 and/or to polio3 during the vaccination protocol whereas no NPE was isolated in vaccine responders. The other studied factors seemed not to interfere in the infants according to the locally adopted vaccination schedule and to the specific socio-economic conditions.
