Helicobacter pylori: histological and serological study on gastric and duodenal ulcer patients in Estonia

Abstract

We have examined the occurrence of Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection in 86 Estonian gastric ulcer (GU) and 25 duodenal ulcer (DU) patients. Diagnosis of the HP infection was made histologically (modified Giemsa) from gastric biopsy specimens, and serologically by parallel use of two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for IgG antibodies to HP in patient sera. The infection was diagnosed simultaneously by all three methods in 84% of the GU and 84% of the DU patients. The infection was revealed histologically in 88% of the GU and 92% of the DU patients, and serologically by either of the two methods in 94% and 92% of the GU and DU patients, respectively. HP infection was absent by all three methods in one GU patient only, this patient being the only subject who showed normal gastric mucosa in conventional histology. These observations show that HP infection is very common in patients with peptic ulcer in Estonia. In addition, the findings suggest that the serological assays will find a small proportion (15%) of ulcer patients with antibodies against HP but no histologically detectable bacteria.