RESUMEN
Clinico-morphological study of the gastroduodenal system and also morphometric investigations of the degree of gastroduodenitis activity and the condition of the local immune system were made in 30 children aged from 4 to 15 years with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). Microbiological, histological and electron microscopic methods for revealing Campylobacter pylori (CP) were used. Interrelationship between various clinical manifestations of JRA with the nature of gastroduodenal system affection and with the incidence of microbial colonization of SP was determined. All the patients with JRA had lesions in the gastric and duodenal mucosa, and some morphological features were revealed in them. SP was diagnosed in 86.7 per cent. There was a relation between the microbial clonization of SP and the degree of the rheumatoid process activity. It is suggested that SP does not play an etiological role in the development of gastroduodenitis in JRA but may serve as a pathogenetic factor in the development of an erosive-ulcerous lesion.