Helicobacter pylori infection rate

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that is easily infected in our daily life. If we share dishes and chopsticks with others, eat raw vegetables, and do not wash fruits thoroughly, we may be infected with Helicobacter pylori. Even if we are careful in our lives, Helicobacter pylori may still appear. The infection rate of Helicobacter pylori in my country is very high, which can usually be measured through gastroscopy or breath test.

According to the World Health Organization report, Helicobacter pylori is one of the bacteria with the highest infection rate among the human population in the world, and the Helicobacter pylori infection rate in my country is about 60%. Experts say that my country is a country with a high incidence of gastric cancer, and about half of the world's new gastric cancer cases and deaths occur in China. Nearly half of the newly discovered gastric cancers each year are related to Helicobacter pylori infection. More than 90% of duodenal ulcers and about 80% of gastric ulcers are caused by Helicobacter pylori infection. The risk of gastric cancer in people infected with Helicobacter pylori is about 4-6 times higher than that in the normal population.

Helicobacter pylori is highly contagious. According to the latest Kyoto Global Consensus, oral-oral transmission and fecal-oral transmission are the main transmission routes. Helicobacter pylori can be transmitted through hands, unclean food, unclean tableware, water sources, etc., and "oral" is the main mode and route of transmission. For example, parents feed chewed food to infants and young children, couples kiss, drinking water is unhygienic, and food is not fully washed and cooked. After parents are infected, their children have a much higher chance of infection than other families, so there is a clear clustering of infections within the family.

Screening for Helicobacter pylori is recommended for people with a family history of gastric cancer. People with a family history of gastric cancer belong to the high-risk group for gastric cancer. It is very meaningful for them to screen for Helicobacter pylori. If the result is positive, it should be cured as soon as possible to reduce the incidence of gastric cancer.

For people who often experience upper abdominal bloating and pain and have a history of gastritis, the first choice of examination is not Helicobacter pylori, but gastroscopy. Gastroscopy can avoid the missed diagnosis of malignant diseases of the digestive tract such as gastric cancer and cardiac cancer. While performing an endoscopic examination, the doctor can take a sample of the gastric mucosa under the endoscope to check for Helicobacter pylori.

Four groups of people should be tested for Helicobacter pylori:

People with peptic ulcer;

People with chronic gastritis and a family history of gastric cancer;

People who have undergone gastric cancer surgery and their first-degree family members;

Patients with gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma.

In addition, eradication of Helicobacter pylori can effectively prevent gastric cancer, which is supported by scientific, rigorous and objective clinical research data from my country. Relevant research results show that eradication of Helicobacter pylori (especially before atrophy and intestinal metaplasia occur) can significantly reduce the incidence of gastric cancer. In Matsu, Taiwan, a 15-year follow-up study on the role of Helicobacter pylori eradication in preventing gastric cancer found that the incidence of gastric cancer decreased by 25% and the incidence of gastric mucosal atrophy decreased by more than 70% after Helicobacter pylori eradication.