H. Pylori
Helicobacter Pylori
H. Pylori is a bacterium (germ) that can infect the human stomach. It lives in the lining of the stomach and the chemicals it makes inflame the stomach lining. The infection is lifelong unless treated with medication to remove the germ, there are no symptoms, but treating it lowers risk of other severe health problems. Adults are unlikely to be infected, as most people with H. Pylori are more likely to have been infected as children through person-to-person contact, possibly via sharing food utensils, contact with stool or vomit of an infected person, or through direct contact with saliva.
H. Pylori can cause most commonly, peptic ulcers (break or sore in the inner lining of the stomach - gastric ulcer) and stomach cancer. H. Pylori causes 70% of stomach ulcers and 90% of duodenal ulcers, but only around 1% of people with stomach cancer have it caused by H. Pylori.
H. Pylori causes gastritis - inflammation of the stomach, which doesn't usually present with symptoms. It can also cause non-ulcer dyspepsia (indigestion) - pain or discomfort in the upper abdomen. Most people won't have an ulcer, but instead have non-ulcer dyspepsia. Note, treatment to get rid of the H. Pylori doesn't always help rid the patient of symptoms.
Diagnosis can be via:
☞ Urea breath test - accurate, and will likely be negative by a month after successful treatment.
☞ Blood test - detecting current or previous infections, and is not used for checking success of treatment as the antibody to H. Pylori remains in the blood many months/years afterwards.
☞ Endoscopy (gastroscopy) biopsy samples - may get false negative result if the sample taken misses the H. Pylori, or if the patient has taken antibiotics or drugs that treat ulcers recently.
☞ Stool antigen test - used to check infection in children.
People who should be tested for H. Pylori include:
☞ People with a peptic ulcer,
☞ People with non-ulcer dyspepsia
☞ People with a family hx of stomach cancer, or
☞ People who have had treatment for H. Pylori
Once a person has successfully removed H. Pylori, the risk of being reinfected again is very low (0.5 - 1.0% per year), as most infections are picked up in childhood.
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