Abstract
A follow-up study of 36 Campylobacter pylori (CP) infected patients and 6 non-infected patients of the gastro-duodenal diseases were carried out in order to clarify the natural course of CP infection. In all 42 patients, 30 were males and 12 were females. The mean age was 52 years old (19-78 yo). The mean follow-up period was 148 days (7-469 days) and mean examination frequency was 2.5 (2-5) times. In all 42 patients, 17 were gastric ulcer, 8 were duodenal ulcer, 3 were gastro-duodenal ulcer, 9 were gastritis, 4 were gastric cancer, and 1 was gastric polyp. All patients did not receive antibacterial treatment during this follow-up period. CP was detected by culture, urease test and acridine orange stain. In 36 CP infected patients, 32 showed persistent infection and 4 showed spontaneous resolution of infection. In 6 CP non-infected patients, 4 remained CP negative and 2 became CP positive during the follow-up period. CP detection rate was 100% in gastric ulcer (A1-H2 stage), 90% in gastric ulcer(S1-S2 stage), 100% in duodenal ulcer (A1-S2 stage), 56% in chronic gastritis and 63% in gastric cancer. In conclusion, 1) most CP infected patients showed persistent infection, 2) spontaneous resolution of CP infection was rarely seen, and 3) the greater part of peptic ulcer patients remained CP positive even in the scar stage.
