The increasing prevalence of HIV/Helicobacter pylori co-infection over time, along with the evolution of antiretroviral therapy (ART)

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is one of the most common human bacterial infections with prevalence rates between 10–80% depending upon geographical location, age and socioeconomic status. H. pylori is commonly found in patients complaining of dyspepsia and is a common cause of gastritis. During the course of their infection, people living with HIV (PLHIV) often have a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms including dyspepsia and while previous studies have reported HIV and H. pylori co-infection, there has been little data clarifying the factors influencing this. The aim of this case-control study was to document the prevalence of H. pylori co-infection within the HIV community as well as to describe endoscopic findings, gastritis topography and histology, along with patient demographic characteristics across three different periods of time during which antiretroviral therapy (ART) has evolved, from pre- highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to early and modern HAART eras. These data were compared to well-matched HIV negative controls. Two hundred and twelve PLHIV were compared with 1,617 controls who underwent their first esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) to investigate dyspepsia. The prevalence of H. pylori co-infection among PLHIV was significantly higher in the early (30.2%) and modern HAART period (34.4%) compared with those with coinfection from the pre-HAART period (18.2%). The higher rates seen in patients from the HAART eras were similar to those observed among HIV negative controls (38.5%). This prevalence increase among co-infected patients was in contrast to the fall in prevalence observed among controls, from 60.7% in the early period to 52.9% in the second observed period. The three PLHIV co-infected subgroups differed regarding gastritis topography, morphology and pathology. This study suggests that ART has an important impact on the endoscopic and histological features of gastritis among HIV/ H. pylori co-infected individuals, raising the possibility that H. pylori -induced gastritis could be an immune restoration disease.