0 1999 The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland MOLECULAR Dl AG NOS IS PCR-based diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection in Polish children and adults

Infection and associated disease caused by Helicobacter pylori are common in Poland, as in much of Eastern Europe, although the genotypes of strains have not been much studied, especially in terms of traits that might be important in disease. This study developed a sensitive and efficient polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for the presence of H. pylori in gastric biopsy samples with ureA gene-specific primers and primers for the virulence-associated cag pathogenicity island (PAI). These tests were used with biopsy samples from 246 symptomatic children (age range 1-17 years) and 82 adults (age range 18-53 years) in Warsaw. An assessment was also made of the success of metronidazole-based therapy intended to eradicate infection. H. pylori was detected by urehspecific PCR in 83 (76.9%) children and in 41 (87.2%) adults with histologically proven gastritis, and in 28.4 % and 29.2%, respectively, of the 38 children and 7 adults with little or no evidence of gastritis. In general, H. pyluri was detected more often by PCR than by culture (70.3 % compared with 52.8 % in children and 62.8 % compared with 38.6 % in adults), although in several cases a negative PCR was associated with a positive culture result. The rate of H. pyluri infection increased with age from 5.4 % i