Helicobacter pylori infection in surgical personnel

Helicobacter pylori can be isolated from oro-gastric secretions. Surgical personnel through their clinical practice are exposed to oro-gastric secretions either directly or in aerosolized form during oro-gastric examination and are at an increased risk of this occupationally acquired infection. The sero-prevalence of Helicobacter pylori antibodies in 70 surgical personnel was examined and found to be higher than a published control group. This may suggest that surgical personnel, through their practice, are at increased risk of infection, which poses important public and occupational health problems and may call for precautionary guidelines in clinical practice to prevent occupational infection and vector carriage.