Helicobacter Forums

I read conflicting posts about sharing food, kissing, saliva transfer.

It seems like Dr. Marshall's team has not found evidence of H. Pylori present in saliva or in the mouth.

So how can H. Pylori transmit via sharing food or kissing?

Thanks.

I wonder this as well.
As far as I know. it can be infected by sharing food, kiss etc, but My specialist is bit wired.
He said it is infected when people are born and if that is treated, people wont get infected again
because adult's immune system has developed completely and he said helicobacter cant live in the gut because of acid.
I think he doesnt know about helicobater even than GP.

The truth is, H. pylori dont normally present in the mouth. It can, when someone has reflux symptom or when they dont maintain good oral hygiene. In modern society where almost everyone in the city brushes their teeth, there is almost no chance that H. pylori can survive in the mouth. In rural region where brushing teeth is not commonly practiced, H. pylori may present in the mouth more frequently. Hence more chance of transmission via kissing and sharing food.

So, the key of stopping the spread of H. pylori is keeping oral clean by brushing teeth.

It is also true that you normally catch H. pylori when you are young. In olden days, mother used to prepare food for children, and tasting the food before feeding to children is commonly practiced. You can still see this practice in the rural area, especially the fishing village where mother would have the fish in the mouth, make sure there is no bones, then feed it to the children. This feeding period usually lasted at least a year. So there is plenty of chance for transmission from mother to child at that time. In modern society, where both parents have to go to work, the cooking and feeding job has frequently given to the grand mother, sometimes the maid or day care.

It is interesting to see that it is normally pass down from mother to children. rarely from father. Hence, we can use H. pylori to trace human migration.