HELICOBACTER
A spiral shaped bacteria with the human gastric mucosa being its
major habitat. It is not routinely cultured in most diagnostic
microbiology laboratories because of the organism's very specific growth
requirements.
An increased occupational risk to endoscopy staff of H. pylori infection has been postulated.
source : http://www.health.qld.gov.au/EndoscopeReprocessing/module_1/1_3d.asp#Cdiff
Disease
-
major cause of gastritis
-
major factor in the development of most cases of duodenal and gastric ulcers
-
likely to be a contributing factor in some cases of gastric cancer
Mode of transmission
Most probably acquired by oral-oral transmissionSignificance in endoscopy
Helicobacter pylori transmission by contaminated biopsy forceps has been demonstrated. It is probable that endoscopic transmission of H. pylori has been more frequent than has been recognised because of:-
the high background prevalence of symptoms similar to H. pylori infection in the population examined;
-
the high background prevalence of H. pylori infection;
-
the non-specific nature of symptoms associated with H. pylori induced gastritis
-
the frequency of asymptomatic infection
An increased occupational risk to endoscopy staff of H. pylori infection has been postulated.
source : http://www.health.qld.gov.au/EndoscopeReprocessing/module_1/1_3d.asp#Cdiff