Helicobacter pylori in the gastric mucosa of dead children Helicobacter pylori en la mucosa gástrica de cadáveres de ni os

23 children under the age of 12 years who died violently without receiving any treatment, had their gastric mucosa studied by means of he Warthin-Starry stain and immunohistochemistry in search for Helicobacter pylori. It was found that 60.9% (14 cases) were positive; of them 64,3% belonged to a low social class and 35,7% to the middle one. Of the positive cases, 9 had acute gastritis, 1 had chronic gastritis and only 4 had normal gastric mucosa. A clear association between Helicobacter pylory and changes in gastritis was observed. En 23 ni os menores de 12 a os que murieron en forma violenta sin haber recibido tratamiento, se estudiaron para Helicobacter pylori las mucosas gástricas con las coloraciones de hematoxilina eosina, Warthin Starry e inmunohistoquímica. Se encontró que 14 casos (60,9%) fueron positivos para esta bacteria, de los cuales 9 (64,3%) pertenecían a un estrato social bajo y 5 (35,7%) a uno medio. De los casos positivos para H. pylori, 9 tenían gastritis aguda, 1 gastritis crónica y sólo en 4 la mucosa gástrica era normal. Se observó una clara asociación entre H. pylori y cambios de gastritis.