Helicobacter pylori prevalence in children aged 1 to 12 years in a neighborhood of Juigalpa Chontales, Nicaragua

Abstract

The child population is exposed to multiple bacterial germs, one of these is Helicobacter pylori. This microaerophilic Gram negative bacteria is responsible for the presence of Primary gastritis, duodenitis, gastric ulcers and upper gastrointestinal bleeding in children. The present study aims to determine the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in feces from children from 1 to 12 years old from the Maritza Rivas neighborhood of Juigalpa-Chontales, using an indirect method to detect antigens. It has a descriptive methodological design, prospective cross-sectional approach with a quantitative approach. The population consists of 217 minors, through non-probabilistic sampling or for convenience, a sample of 30 children, both sexes were present in 50%. The data was collected with surveys applied to parents, safeguarding the confidentiality of the data; the results obtained were processed in SPSS 21 and Excel 2013. Among the main results of the research It was found that the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection is 66.6% and with 20 positive cases from the total sample. In general, it was found that the average age of the minors is 6 years old. Regarding the symptoms described by the parents, it was found that 36.7% have epigastric pain, 20% heartburn, 46.7% colic, 13.7% vomiting, 20% urticaria and 16.7% weightloss. It suggests implementing public health measures, which would contribute to a decrease of the prevalence of gastric cancer in our country.