Simple Stain For Helicobacter Pylori
664-666
Correspondence
Dr. D. Vijaya
Professor& HOD Microbiology
AIMS, B.G.Nagara 571448
Karnataka, India.
Phone no; 94820 09120
E Mail; vijayadanand@rediffmail.com
Several methods are available for the detection of Helicobacter pylori in the gastric antral biopsies. Most of these are technically demanding, slow and expensive with varying sensitivity. Aim of the present study was to find out the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in various gastroduodenal diseases and to evaluate the advantages of Loeffler’s methylene blue stain for crushed biopsy smear.
A total of 236 (male 176, female 60) randomly selected patients with endoscopically proved chronic duodenal ulcer (180), gastroduodenitis (42) and gastric ulcer (14) formed the study group. Four gastric antral biopsies were taken from each patient. Biopsies were subjected to histology, rapid urease test, Gram’s and Loeffler’s methylene blue (LMB) stains for crushed smears. Evidence of H. pylori infection was found in 62.71% considering histopathology as the gold standard. H. pylori was more common in males (65.90%) and in the age group of 31-40 years (77.50%). In duodenal ulcer, gastric ulcer and gastroduodenitis, 68.88%, 57.14% and 38.09% were positive for H. pylori respectively. A smear stained with LBM was found to be rapid, simple, reliable, and cost effective with good sensitivity and specificity for detecting H. pylori.