The diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection

Hardly any other bacterial infection can be diagnosed with a similar variet y of non-invasive and invasive tests as infection with H. pylori. Efficacy and specificity of well-proven tests such as urease test in biopsy specimen s, histology, culture, and C-13 breath test have been uniformly evidenced i n numerous studies. Novel tests include molecular microbiological procedure s, providing new opportunities for rapid detection of virulence factors and resistance genes, as well as antigen detection in feces. Though some open questions still need to be clarified, the latter test will gain major impor tance in the future. With the availability of the breath rest and antigen detection in stool the need for the use of serological tests has bren reduced, all the more so as the majority of the available quick tests have been shown to be of inadequ ate reliability. Well defined indications for the treatment of H. pylori in fections are a major prerequisite for a reasonable use of this diagnostic a rmory.