Detection of Helicobacter pylori in Patients with Ulcer Using Stool and Serum Antigen Tests

ABSTRACT Helicobacter pylori are one of the most common infections in humans, with an estimated 50% of the world’s population being infected (Torres et al, 2000). The presence of Helicobacter pylori in patients with ulcer disease using stool and serum antigen tests, antibiotics sensitive profile were investigated, serological methods using antigen kits(Acon San Diego, CA,USA) was employed in detecting H. pylori. The prevalence of this organism was evaluated among the sex or gender in all the selected three states. However stool samples that were negative for Helicobacter pylori were further cultured onto MacConkey and Salmonella-Shigella media, the sensitivity of the isolates to various antibiotics were carried out using agar diffusion method. One hundred and forty samples each of stool and blood were collected from three locations in south Western Nigeria, It was observed that 42(30%),98(70%),32(22.8%), and 108(77.1%) patients tested positive and negative for Helicobacter pylori disease using stool and serum samples respectively. However, samples from Ogun state had the highest prevalence rate of 50%,this was followed by 29% and 21% rate from Ibadan and Lagos respectively, Cultures of the stool samples revealed the presence of Klebsiella spp, E coli, Salmonella spp and Shigella spp, with E coli having the prevalence 22(43.1%). The sensitivity of the isolated organisms varies according to the drug and location with 18mm and 16mm being the highest inhibitory zones for Lagos, Ibadan and Ogun State respectively. It could therefore be concluded that the serological methods used was reliable to some extent in detecting the presence of Helicobacter pylori in the stool due to the fact that many organisms are also present in the stool sample which can also lead to ulcer originating from infection from the intestine.