http://gastroenterology.medscape.com/reuters/prof/2000/10/10.24/20001023clin014.html

H. pylori May Be Implicated in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Oct 24 - UK investigators report in the
November Archives of Disease in Childhood a "highly significant"
association
between Helicobacter pylori infection and sudden infant death syndrome
(SIDS).

"Infection has long been suspected to play a role in SIDS, and there is
evidence
implicating gastrointestinal infection," lead researcher Dr. Jonathan R.
Kerr of the
University of Manchester, UK, told Reuters Health. "There is extensive
overlap in
the epidemiology of both H. pylori infection and SIDS," he added. "Both
are
associated with poor communities, overcrowded living conditions, and
show
clustering within families."

Dr. Kerr and colleagues used polymerase chain reaction to examine DNA
from
stomach, trachea and lung tissue from 32 infants who had died of SIDS
and eight
controls, specifically looking for sequences of the H. pylori genes ureC
and cagA.

Considering results for both sequences, 28 of 32 (88%) of SIDS cases
showed
evidence of H. pylori infection compared with only one of eight (12.5%)
controls.

The prevalence of H. pylori infection in infants in developed countries
is
generally less than 2%, so the 88% prevalence in this SIDS population is
very
high by comparison, Dr. Kerr said. "We have therefore identified a
possible
bacterial cause of SIDS, but emphasize that our findings must be
independently
confirmed," he added.

As for the connection between SIDS and H. pylori infection, Dr. Kerr and
his
colleagues theorize that "death may result from aspiration of stomach
contents
containing H. pylori urease into the lung with consequent release of
ammonia into
the circulation."

Arch Dis Child 2000;83:429-434.

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