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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, December 2003, p. 5604-5608, Vol. 41, No. 12
0095-1137/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JCM.41.12.5604-5608.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Concordance of Helicobacter pylori Strains within Families

Department of Clinical Microbiology, Microbiology and Tumor Biology Center,¹ Unit of Infectious Diseases,³ Unit of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Hospital,⁵ The Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control,⁶ Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet,² Division of Pediatrics, Department of Clinical Sciences, Huddinge University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden⁴

Received 15 July 2003/ Returned for modification 2 September 2003/ Accepted 18 September 2003

Helicobacter pylori infection is typically acquired in early childhood, and a predominantly intrafamilial transmission has been postulated. To what extent family members share the same strains is poorly documented. Our aim was to explore patterns of shared strains within families by using molecular typing. Family members of H. pylori-infected 10- to 12-year-old index children identified in a school survey were invited to undergo gastroscopy. Bacterial isolates were typed with random amplified polymorphic DNA and PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism of the genes ureA-B, glmM, or flaA. The presence or absence of the cag pathogenicity island, a bacterial virulence factor, was determined by PCR. GelCompar II software, supplemented with visual inspection, was used in the cluster analysis. In 39 families, 104 individuals contributed 208 bacterial isolates from the antrum and corpus. A large proportion, 29 of 36 (81%) of the offspring in a sibship, harbored the same strain as at least one sibling. Mother-offspring strain concordance was detected in 10 of 18 (56%) of the families. Of 17 investigated father-offspring relations in eight families, none were strain concordant. Spouses were infected with the same strains in 5 of 23 (22%) of the couples. Different strains in the antrum and corpus were found in 8 of 104 (8%) of the subjects. Our family-based fingerprinting study demonstrates a high proportion of shared strains among siblings. Transmission between spouses seems to be appreciable. The data support mother-child and sib-sib transmission as the primary transmission pathways of H. pylori.

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