Can Drinking Water Serve as a Potential Reservoir of Helicobacter pylori? Evidence for Water Contamination by Helicobacter pylori

ABSTRACT Due to metabolic and morphological changes that can prevent Helicobacter pylori cells in water from growing on conventional media, an H. pylori-specific TaqMan quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay was developed that uses a 6-carboxyfluorescein-labeled probe (A. E. McDaniels, L. Wymer, C. Rankin, and R. Haugland, Water Res. 39:4808-4816, 2005). However, proper internal controls are needed to provide an accurate estimate of low numbers of H. pylori in drinking water. In this study, the 135-bp amplicon described by McDaniels et al. was modified at the probe binding region, using PCR mutagenesis. The fragment was incorporated into a single-copy plasmid to serve as a PCR-positive control and cloned into Escherichia coli to serve as a matrix spike. It was shown to have a detection limit of five copies, using a VIC dye-labeled probe. A DNA extraction kit was optimized that allowed sampling of an entire liter of water. Water samples spiked with the recombinant E. coli cells were shown to behave like H. pylori cells in the qPCR assay. The recombinant E. coli cells were optimized to be used at 10 cells/liter of water, where they were shown not to compete with 5 to 3,000 cells of H. pylori in a duplex qPCR assay. Four treated drinking water samples spiked with H. pylori (100 cells) demonstrated similar cycle threshold values if the chlorine disinfectant was first neutralized by sodium thiosulfate.

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Frequency of H. Pylori infection in children with recurrent abdominal pain at a Tertiary Care Hospital.

The Professional Medical Journal ◽

10.29309/tpmj/2020.27.03.3057 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 (02) ◽

pp. 237-241

Author(s):

Asim Khurshid ◽

Shahid Ishaq ◽

Mushtaq Ahmad

Keyword(s):

Helicobacter Pylori ◽

Drinking Water ◽

Disease Duration ◽

Family Income ◽

Tertiary Care Hospital ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Recurrent Abdominal Pain ◽

Male Gender ◽

Care Hospital ◽

H Pylori

Objectives: Recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) impacts quality of life of the children. RAP also hampers education and physical activity of the children. Current study was aimed to find out the frequency of Helicobacter pylori in children with RAP in our tertiary care hospital. Study Design: Descriptive, cross-sectional study. Setting: Department of Pediatric Medicine, Nishtar Hospital, Multan, Period: From 27-12-2017 to 26-06-2018. Material & Methods: A total of 185 patients suffering from RAP, aged 2-12 years, with a disease duration > 3 months, were enrolled. Age of the children, gender, duration of illness, number of episodes of pain, maternal literacy, family income, residential status, source of drinking water and h.pylori infection were calculated in these children. Post stratification chi-square test was applied to see its effect on H. Pylori infection. Results: Of these 185 study cases, 101 (54.6 %) were male patients while 84 (45.4%) were female. Mean age of our study cases was 7.57 ± 1.93 years. Of A total of 95 (51.4%) children belonged to rural areas and 90 (48.6 %) to urban areas. Helicobacter pylori infection was noted in 103 (55.7%) of our study cases. When helicobacter pylori was stratified with regards to study variables, male gender, age < 8 years, monthly family income <Rs. 35000, source of drinking water as Hand Pump and disease duration < 6 months turned out to be statistically significant (P value < 0.05). Conclusion: Frequency of H.pylori was high in children with RAP. Helicobacter pylori was significantly associated with male gender, younger age, poor socioeconomic status, source of drinking water and disease duration.

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