Castaneda CA, Castillo M, Chavez I, et al. - Using a single-center cohort, researchers assessed the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori and Epstein Barr virus (EBV), as well as clinicopathological characteristics of gastric cancer (GC) and chronic gastritis (CG) related to the infection. Participants included 375 Peruvian patients with GC and 165 controls with CG. Via quantitative polymerase chain reaction, the investigators assessed HP and EBV genes. Findings revealed a high prevalence of HP infection and virulent strains in the Peruvian population. In the whole population and in the GC subset, the prevalence of HP was estimated to be 62.9% and 60.8%, respectively. They identified cytotoxin-associated gene A in 79.9%, vacAs1 allele in 41.6% and vacAm1 allele in 60.7%; and concurrent expression of vacAs1 and vacAm1 in 30.4% of infected patients in the whole series. Few clinicopathological characteristics were linked with infectious status. Patients with GC more frequently developed infection by EBV.