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Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 78(4), 2008, pp. 574-576
Copyright © 2008 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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SHORT REPORT


Helicobacter pylori Seroprevalence in Amerindians from Isolated Locations

Monica Contreras, Flor H. Pujol, Guillermo I. Pérez-Pérez, Elisabetta Marini, Fabian A. Michelangeli, Liliana Ponce, AND María G. Domínguez-Bello*
Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research, Venezuela; Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York; Department of Biology, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy; Ponce Consultores, Caracas, Venezuela; Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

ABSTRACT

Helicobacter pylori seems universally distributed in all human populations, with high prevalence in the third world. Because H. pylori is an ancestral indigenous microbe of the human stomach, we hypothesized that its prevalence in isolated Amerindians would be high. A serologic study was performed on 19 Guahibo-Piaroa and 17 Warao in Venezuela, using H. pylori whole cell (WC) and CagA antigens from US strains. For Guahibo-Piaroa Amerindians, CagA seropositivity was 95%, but WC seropositivity was only 74%. For Warao, both CagA and WC seropositive proportions were low (65% and 76%, respectively). Because all CagA-seropositive individuals carry H. pylori, the results suggest that there has been bacterial antigen divergence, probably caused by genetic drift/natural selection, on humans and their microbes in isolated human groups.

Received February 18, 2007. Accepted for publication September 7, 2007.

Financial support: This study was supported by the Puerto Rico Alliance for the Advancement of Biomedical Research Excellence (PRAABRE) made possible by Grant P20 RR-016470 from the National Center for Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health.

* Address correspondence to María G. Domínguez-Bello, Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, Av Ponce Leon, NCN 343, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931. E-mail: mgdbello{at}uprr.pr

Authors’ addresses: Monica Contreras, Flor H. Pujol, and Fabian A. Michelangeli, Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research, IVIC, Caracas, Venezuela. Guillermo I. Pérez-Pérez, Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY. Elisabetta Marini, Department of Experimental Biology, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy. Liliana Ponce, 10012 NW 41 Street, Doral-Miami, FL 33178. María G. Domínguez-Bello, Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, E-mail: mgdbello{at}uprr.pr.

Reprint requests: María G. Domínguez-Bello, Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, Av Ponce Leon, NCN 343, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00931. E-mail: mgdbello{at}uprr.pr.






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