Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Dec;38(11-12):1347-53.
doi: 10.1111/apt.12520. Epub 2013 Oct 5.

Significantly higher frequency of Helicobacter suis in patients with idiopathic parkinsonism than in control patients

C Blaecher  1 , A Smet, B Flahou, F Pasmans, R Ducatelle, D Taylor, C Weller, I Bjarnason, A Charlett, A J Lawson, R J Dobbs, S M Dobbs, F Haesebrouck
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Significantly higher frequency of Helicobacter suis in patients with idiopathic parkinsonism than in control patients

C Blaecher et al. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2013 Dec.
Free PMC article

Abstract

Background: There is increased proportional mortality from Parkinson's disease amongst livestock farmers. The hypokinesia of Parkinson's disease has been linked to Helicobacter pylori. H. suis is the most common zoonotic helicobacter in man.

Aim: To compare the frequency of H. suis, relative to H. pylori, in gastric biopsies of patients with idiopathic parkinsonism (IP) and controls from gastroenterology services.

Methods: DNA extracts, archived at a Helicobacter Reference Laboratory, from IP patient and gastroenterology service biopsies were examined anonymously for H. suis, using species-specific RT-PCR.

Results: Relative risk of having H. suis in 60 IP patients compared with 256 controls was 10 times greater than that of having H. pylori. In patients with IP and controls, respectively, frequencies of H. suis were 27 (exact binomial 95% C.I. 15, 38) and 2 (0, 3)%, and of H. pylori, 28 (17, 40) and 16 (12, 21)%. Excess of H. suis in IP held when only the antral or corporal biopsy was considered. Of 16 IP patients with H. suis, 11 were from 19 with proven H. pylori eradication, 3 from 17 pre-H. pylori eradication, 2 from 24 H. pylori culture/PCR-negative. Frequency was different between groups (P = 0.001), greatest where H. pylori had been eradicated. Even without known exposure to anti-H. pylori therapy, H. suis was more frequent in IP patients (5/41) than in controls (1/155) (P = 0.002). Partial multilocus sequence typing confirmed that strains from IP patients (6) and control (1) differed from RT-PCR standard strain.

Conclusions: Greater frequency of H. suis in idiopathic parkinsonism appears exaggerated following H. pylori eradication. Multilocus sequence testing comparison with porcine strains may clarify whether transmission is from pigs/porcine products or of human-adapted, H. suis-like, bacteria.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Wirdefeldt K, Adami H-O, Cole P, Trichopoulos D, Mandel J. Epidemiology and etiology of Parkinson's disease: a review of the evidence. Eur J Epidemiol. 2011;26:S1–58. - PubMed
    1. Lee E, Burnett CA, Lalich N, Cameron LL, Sestito JP. Proportionate mortality of crop and livestock farmers in the United States, 1984-1993. Am J Ind Med. 2002;42:410–20. - PubMed
    1. Strang RR. The association of gastro-duodenal ulceration with Parkinson's disease. Med J Austr. 1965;52:842–3. - PubMed
    1. Dobbs RJ, Dobbs SM, Weller C, et al. Helicobacter hypothesis for Idiopathic Parkinsonism: before and beyond. Helicobacter. 2008;13:309–22. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Dobbs RJ, Charlett A, Dobbs SM, et al. Leukocyte-subset counts in idiopathic parkinsonism provide clues to a pathogenic pathway involving small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. A surveillance study. Gut Pathog. 2012;4:12. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types