FEASIBILITY OF HELICOBACTER-PYLORI IDENTIFICATION BY A SLIDE AGGLUTINATION-TEST

Culture isolation and identification of Helicobacter pylori represents a considerable work load in clinical microbiology. The aim of this st udy was to test if antibody-mediated bacterial agglutination could be used for rapid identification of H. pylori. Rabbit antiserum against H . pylori strain I and against another strain, H. pylori 330, which was very weakly agglutinated (1+) by anti-H. pylori I serum, were mixed a nd used in a slide agglutination test. Of 107 consecutive clinical iso lates tested, 101 (94%) strains showed 2+ or 3+ reaction using the ant iserum mixture, whereas 6 (6%) strains could not be evaluated owing to autoagglutinability. Bacteria of a variety of other species, includin g Campylobacter spp., showed no agglutination with the antiserum mixtu re. The results support the notion that reliable identification of the majority of cultured H. pylori strains should be possible in less tha n 3 min by agglutination testing.