Prospective Multicenter Surveillance of Non–<i>H</i>. <i>pylori Helicobacter</i> Infections during Medical Checkups, Japan, 2022

To evaluate non-H. pylori Helicobacter (NHPH) infections in Japan, we enrolled 673 consecutive patients who underwent gastric endoscopy during annual medical checkups at 4 hospitals during April 2022-February 2023. We collected intragastric fluid and serum samples to detect NHPH infection by PCR and serologic tests. The prevalence of NHPH was 3% (20/673); 70% (14/20) of patients were infected with H. suis and 30% (6/20) with non-H. suis NHPH species. All 14 H. suis-infected patients were men and had a history of pork offal ingestion. Among non-H. suis NHPH-infected patients, 50% (3/6) owned pet cats, whereas only 22% (145/667) of other patients owned cats. Endoscopic evaluation revealed marbled crack-like gastritis was present in 93% (13/14) of H. suis-infected patients, a significantly higher prevalence than for H. pylori-infected (28.6%) and H. pylori eradication therapy (27.6%) groups. Pork offal ingestion and having pet cats increase risk for Helicobacter spp. infections.