Chronic gastritis and herpetic infections in subjects of different ages

: Gastric mucosal biopsy specimens were immunohistochemically studied to detect the antigens of herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus, and Epstein-Barr virus (EB ) in 103 children aged 7-17 years and 49 adults aged 18-78 years who suffered from morphologically verified chronic gastritis. Gastric mucosal virus antigens were found in 70% of the children (including EBV in 44.8%; herpes simplex virus in 34.9%, cytomegalovirus in 16.5%; concurrence of two and three infections in 22.3 and 1.9%, respectively) and in 65.3% of the adults (EBV in 408%; herpes simplex virus in 26.5%, cytomegalovirus in 18.4%; concurrence of two and three infections in 26.3 and 2%, respectively). It was shown that herpes viruses may play an etiological role in the development of chronic gastritis in children and adults.