Helicobacter pylori among patients with symptoms of gastroduodenal ulcer disease in rural Uganda

摘要

Helicobacter pylori is believed to be responsible for the majority of peptic ulcers in patients with chronic gastritis and active ulcer disease (1). H. pylori is associated with many diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and high prevalence has been reported in many developing countries (2). H. pylori is believed to infect about half of the world's population (3), with prevalence of the infection, however, varying within geographical settings. Some developing countries have figures as high as 90%, whereas developed countries have values ranging from 25 to 40% (3). In Uganda and Africa at large, data on the determinants of infection with H. pylori are scanty. A previous study in Kampala, Uganda, revealed a prevalence of the organism among patients with stomach cancers as 87% (4). This was broadly comparable to what had been reported elsewhere in the African continent: 79% in Algeria, 71% in Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire), 79% in DR Congo, 85% in Nigeria, and 86–93% in South African Blacks (5).