The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in Sherpa residents of the Upper Khumbu, an isolated community in Eastern Nepal.

AIM

To determine the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) among Sherpa residents of the Upper Khumbu region of Nepal and to test for associations between presence of H. pylori infection and lifestyle and health measures.

METHOD

Written questionnaires were used to collect data from 383 individuals in randomly selected households in three villages of the region. Early morning stool samples were tested immediately for the presence of H. pylori antigen using standard rapid diagnostic Pylori strips. A descriptive data analysis was performed to estimate overall prevalence and its association with age, sex, dyspepsia, smoking, alcohol intake, diet, and medication use.

RESULTS

The overall prevalence of H. pylori in the study sample was 70.5%. The prevalence was high in all the three villages of Thame, Kunde and Fortse. Prevalence was high in all age groups, including a high prevalence of 78.1% in children aged <10 years. The presence of H. pylori was not significantly associated with any of the lifestyle and health measures collected, including dyspeptic symptoms, medication, smoking, alcohol intake and dietary factors like salt, smoked food, fruit/vegetable and pickle consumption.

CONCLUSION

The overall prevalence of H. pylori in Upper Khumbu is high with the infection being acquired early in the first decade of life. This lifelong infection may explain the very high incidence of gastric cancer in this community. The rate of infection is not dependent on individual variables including demographic, social and dietary factors.