RECOVERY OF HELICOBACTER-PYLORI FROM GASTRIC BIOPSY SPECIMENS IS NOT DEPENDENT ON THE TRANSPORT MEDIUM USED

The survival of six clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori at room t emperature was investigated after suspension in five different media: brucella broth with 5% lysed horse blood (BBLB), phosphate-buffered sa line (PBS), 20% glucose, Stuart medium, and PBS with 10% Fildes enrich ment (PBS-F). Only in BBLH and PBS-F no decrease in mean bacterial num bers was observed during the 24-h study period. No H. pylori isolates could be cultured from Stuart medium after 7 h of incubation. In contr ast, the recovery rates in PBS-F or Stuart medium of H. pylori isolate s from gastric tissue specimens collected from 19 H pylori-positive pa tients were not significantly different even after a delay of culture of up to 24 h. Our data show that the medium composition is not critic al for the survival of H, pylori within gastric tissue specimens.