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Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in United States Navy submarine crews

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2005

R. P. JACKMAN ,
C. SCHLICHTING ,
W. CARR  and
A. DUBOIS
R. P. JACKMAN
Affiliation:
Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Naval Submarine Base, Groton, CT, USA
C. SCHLICHTING
Affiliation:
Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Naval Submarine Base, Groton, CT, USA
W. CARR
Affiliation:
Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Naval Submarine Base, Groton, CT, USA
A. DUBOIS
Affiliation:
Digestive Diseases Division, Department of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA
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Abstract

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Helicobacter pylori prevalence is elevated in German submarine crews and in United States Navy (USN) surface fleet personnel, but H. pylori prevalence in USN submariners was unknown. The goal of the study was to determine the prevalence of H. pylori in the crews of USN nuclear submarines compared to other military personnel and to the general US population. The presence of H. pylori IgG antibodies was determined in serum samples using a commercial ELISA. Only 47 out of 451 submariners (9·4%) were H. pylori positive, which is similar to that of the US general population with a similar level of education. In contrast, H. pylori prevalence is significantly higher in US Army recruits (26%), USN surface fleet personnel (25%), and German diesel submariners (38%). These data demonstrate that submarine service (and by inference activity requiring isolation and close contact, per se) is not a risk factor for H. pylori infection.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 134 , Issue 3 , June 2006 , pp. 460 - 464
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

Footnotes

The opinions and assertions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and are not to be construed as official or reflecting the views of the Department of the Navy, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the Department of Defense, or the US Government.