Occurrence of Helicobacter pylori and Epstein-Barr virus infection in endoscopic and gastric cancer patients from Northern Brazil.

Background: Helicobacter pylori (HP) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) have been associated with cancer development. We evaluated the prevalence of HP, HP CagA+ and EBV infection in gastric cancer (GC) samples from adults and in gastric tissues from patients who underwent upper endoscopy (UE).

Methods: Samples from UE and GC were collected to investigate the presence of HP infection and the HP virulence factor CagA by a urease test and PCR.