Pathology

Helicobacter Pylori

Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) are spiral shaped anaerobic bacterium that can be the cause of gastritis and peptic/duodenal ulcers and can also contribute to chronic diarrhoea, and short stature in children.

This bacterium can actually survive in the stomach and duodenum despite the harsh acidic environment.

H pylori live in the mucus lining of the stomach and has the ability to excrete urease to convert the urea in the stomach to bicarbonate and ammonia creating a cloud of higher pH around the bacteria and thus allows it to survive the harsh acidic environment.

Key features:

• Provides a non-invasive measure of H pylori antigen in stool

• Detection of H pylori that may be the underlying cause of chronic gastritis, peptic/duodenal ulcers and upper GI bleeds

• HpSA test is 96.1% sensitive; 95.7% specific; and has a 95.9% correlation with H pylori infection