NEW YORK, May 25 (Reuters Health) - A new study finds that infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori is common among low-income black and Hispanic children in the US, placing them at risk of developing stomach ulcers and stomach cancer.

"What surprised us from the study is the high rate of infection among the black and Hispanic children in the US with a bacteria that had started, at one time, to disappear in westernized developed countries," said lead author Dr. Hoda M. Malaty, an associate professor of gastroenterology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Although the exact way that H. pylori spreads is unknown, crowded and unsanitary environments seem to be a breeding ground for the infection, the report indicates.

The infection is easily treated with antibiotics, but the researchers warn that symptoms, which include nausea and stomach pain, are not always evident in all patients. If undiagnosed, the infection can lead to serious and even deadly stomach complications.

Between 1996 and 1998, Malaty and her colleagues focused on 356 boys and girls aged 2 to 16, all of whom were attending one of 13 day care centers in the Houston area. The centers mainly enrolled children from the lower and lower-middle socioeconomic classes.

The report, published In the May 15th issue of the Journal of Clinical Infectious Diseases, notes that 24% of the children overall were infected with the bacteria. Nearly half of the children older than 10 had H. pylori infection. These figures are extremely high when compared with the 5% to 10% infection rate among children in European countries, Malaty pointed out.

The researchers found the highest risk of infection among those children who attended crowded day care centers, those who lived in a family with four or more children, and those whose mothers had less education.

Having been breast-fed appeared to protect children against infection, the team notes, probably because of certain protective properties of breast milk.

The authors conclude that environmental factors both inside and outside the home play a role in the spread of the bacteria, but that more studies are needed to establish exactly how and why children become vulnerable to infection.

Malaty told Reuters Health that a vaccine against H. pylori is at least 2 years away. She advises parents of children at high risk to be on the lookout for symptoms, have them tested regularly, and to be sure to teach proper hygiene.

"Education is very important," she said. "Teaching children to wash their hands after they eat and go to the bathroom, bathing everyday, keeping clean--these things are very simple, and should be a common practice."

From Reutershealth.com