Helicobacter pylori in lacrimal secretions

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Helicobacter pylori in human lacrimal and nasal secretions. Eighty patients with complaints of dyspepsia who had undergone endoscopies and gastric antrum biopsies were included in the study. A total of five specimens, including 2 lacrimal secretion samples, 2 nasal mucosal swab samples, and 1 gastric antrum biopsy, were collected from each patient and investigated with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods consisting of the urease enzyme coding gene GlmM (UreC) and the H pylori-specific 16S rRNA coding gene. The Reflux Symptom Index and ophthalmologic complaints of the patients were recorded. The detected positivity rates of the H pylori 16S rRNA coding gene in gastric biopsies and nasal mucous and lacrimal secretions were 55, 11.2, and 20%, respectively. The patients were grouped as gastric-antrum-biopsy-negative (Group I [n = 36]) and -positive (Group II [n = 44). In Group II, H pylori positivity in the lacrimal and nasal mucous secretions was 36.3 and 18%, respectively. A comparison between the groups in terms of H pylori presence in nasal mucous and lacrimal secretions yielded statistically significant differences (p = 0.0001, p = 0.003). The simultaneous presence of H pylori in nasal mucous and lacrimal secretions was 13.6% in Group II. H pylori positivity in nasal mucous and lacrimal secretions had a positive moderate correlation (r = 0.40; p = 0.0003). The present study is the first report on the presence of H pylori in lacrimal secretions through nested PCR, which suggested the presence of a number of mechanisms for H pylori transmission to lacrimal secretions.