Campylobacter like organisms on the gastric mucosa:

SUMMARY Biopsy samples were taken from the gastric mucosa of 50 patients attending a gastros-copy clinic; blood was also taken for serological studies. A campylobacter like organism was grown from 31 patients (62%) and the organism was seen in sections from 27 biopsies. Antibody was found in 31 patients by complement fixation and in 27 by bacterial agglutination. There were strong positive correlations between the presence of the organism, detectable antibody, and histological gastritis. Antibody to the campylobacter like organism was comparatively uncommon in patients without gastritis and in samples from blood donors and antenatal patients. In 1940 Freedberg and Barron, ' using silver staining techniques, found spirochaetes in the gastric mucosa of 13 of 35 patients who underwent partial gastric resection for ulcers or carcinoma. The organisms were rarely seen in the absence of ulceration. More recently, the presence of unidentified curved bacilli on the gastric mucosa of patients attending for gas-troscopy was reported by Warren2 and Marshall,3 also using silver stains. The presence of these organ-isms was associated with histologically demonstrable gastritis. From some of the patients they isolated the organism on moist chocolate agar incubated at 37°C in a microaerophilic atmosphere suitable for the growth of Campylobacter jejuni. These bacteria had a superficial morphological resemblance to the known species of campylobacter, but with up to five sheathed flagella arising from one end of the organ-ism. The importance of the presence of these bac-teria in the stomach is uncertain. We report here the results of a study of 50 consecutive patients attend-ing a gastroscopy clinic. We have extended the orig-inal observations by using serological methods to detect antibody at the same time as examining the material by culture and histology. Material and methods Biopsies were taken from the antral mucosa of each patient undergoing gastroscopy. Samples were placed in formalin for histology and in nutrient broth (Oxoid No 2 CM67) for transmission to th