Reviewer's report 
 CagA-positive Helicobacter pylori infection is not associated with decreased risk of Barrett's Title: 
esophagus in a population with high H. pylori infection rate 
 1  24 November 2005 Version: Date: 
 Carmelo Scarpignato Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
General 
This is an elegant study suggesting that neither H. pylori infection nor H. pylori infection by cagA+ strains decrease the risk of Barrett's esophagus. If one takes into account the high prevalence of H. pylori infection in the population studied, one should pay even more value to the results presented. 
It is certainly a pity that histolgy data of gastric mucosa are not available, but I agree with authors 
that performing endoscopy in and taking biopsies from healthy volunteers would have been 
unethical. Perhaps, the investigators could measure gastrin, pepsinogen I and pepsinogen II and use 
the Gastropanel® software to get some insight into the gastric mucosal status, provided they still 
have blood samples of both patients and control subjects. 
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Major Compulsory Revisions (that the author must respond to before a decision on publication can 
be reached) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of a term, which the 
author can be trusted to correct) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Discretionary Revisions (which the author can choose to ignore) 
The authors should discuss - in the context of GERD and Barrett's -the interrelationships between H. 
pylori infection and PPI use and effect. 
They could also provide gastrin and pepsinogen data, if sera of patients and volunteers are 
available. 
 Accept after minor essential revisions What next?: 
 An article of importance in its field Level of interest: 
 Needs some language corrections before being published Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
Declaration of competing interests: 
I declare that I have no competing interests 
Reviewer's report 
 CagA-positive Helicobacter pylori infection is not associated with decreased risk of Barrett's Title: 
esophagus in a population with high H. pylori infection rate 
 1  24 November 2005 Version: Date: 
 Carmelo Scarpignato Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
General 
This is an elegant study suggesting that neither H. pylori infection nor H. pylori infection by cagA+ strains decrease the risk of Barrett's esophagus. If one takes into account the high prevalence of H. pylori infection in the population studied, one should pay even more value to the results presented. 
It is certainly a pity that histolgy data of gastric mucosa are not available, but I agree with authors 
that performing endoscopy in and taking biopsies from healthy volunteers would have been 
unethical. Perhaps, the investigators could measure gastrin, pepsinogen I and pepsinogen II and use 
the Gastropanel® software to get some insight into the gastric mucosal status, provided they still 
have blood samples of both patients and control subjects. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Major Compulsory Revisions (that the author must respond to before a decision on publication can 
be reached) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of a term, which the 
author can be trusted to correct) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Discretionary Revisions (which the author can choose to ignore) 
The authors should discuss - in the context of GERD and Barrett's -the interrelationships between H. 
pylori infection and PPI use and effect. 
They could also provide gastrin and pepsinogen data, if sera of patients and volunteers are 
available. 
 Accept after minor essential revisions What next?: 
 An article of importance in its field Level of interest: 
 Needs some language corrections before being published Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
Declaration of competing interests: 
I declare that I have no competing interests 
Please review this paper.
user
Reviewer's report 
 CagA-positive Helicobacter pylori infection is not associated with decreased risk of Barrett's Title: 
esophagus in a population with high H. pylori infection rate 
 1  24 November 2005 Version: Date: 
 Carmelo Scarpignato Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
General 
This is an elegant study suggesting that neither H. pylori infection nor H. pylori infection by cagA+ strains decrease the risk of Barrett's esophagus. If one takes into account the high prevalence of H. pylori infection in the population studied, one should pay even more value to the results presented. 
It is certainly a pity that histolgy data of gastric mucosa are not available, but I agree with authors 
that performing endoscopy in and taking biopsies from healthy volunteers would have been 
unethical. Perhaps, the investigators could measure gastrin, pepsinogen I and pepsinogen II and use 
the Gastropanel® software to get some insight into the gastric mucosal status, provided they still 
have blood samples of both patients and control subjects. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Major Compulsory Revisions (that the author must respond to before a decision on publication can 
be reached) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of a term, which the 
author can be trusted to correct) 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Discretionary Revisions (which the author can choose to ignore) 
The authors should discuss - in the context of GERD and Barrett's -the interrelationships between H. 
pylori infection and PPI use and effect. 
They could also provide gastrin and pepsinogen data, if sera of patients and volunteers are 
available. 
 Accept after minor essential revisions What next?: 
 An article of importance in its field Level of interest: 
 Needs some language corrections before being published Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
Declaration of competing interests: 
I declare that I have no competing interests 
assistant