Helicobacter pylori infection and gut microbiota in adolescents: Is there a relation?

Helicobacter pylori infection is a prevalent global infection associated with several complications such as peptic ulcer, upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and stomach cancer. An imbalance in the gut microbiota composition or the relationship between the microbiota and the host may be implicated in the infection. To investigate this, we studied the intestinal microbiota of 50 newly infected adolescents with H. pylori compared with 50 age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls. The gut microbiota composition was assessed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and the fecal bacterial diversity and composition were compared between groups. Our findings revealed that Clostridium difficile and Salmonella spp. were significantly higher in the patient group compared to the control group. Additionally, lower counts of eubacteria, Bacteroides fragilis, Lactobacillus spp., Escherichia coli, and Methanobrevibacter smithii, were observed in the gut of adolescents with H. pylori. Conversely, adolescents with H. pylori infection had non-significantly higher counts of Bifidobacterium spp., C. difficile, and Salmonella spp. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that a greater abundance of Bifidobacterium spp. and Salmonella spp., a higher prevalence of C. difficile, and a lower abundance of Lactobacillus spp. were predictive of H. pylori infection. Overall, our results suggest that H. pylori infection is associated with changes in fecal microbiome composition.