Isolation of Helicobacter pylori after transport from a regional laboratory of gastric biopsy specimens in saline, portagerm pylori or cultured on chocolate agar

Multiple gastric biopsies were taken from 288 patients in Port Lincoln, South Australia. One biopsy was used for a CLOtest and the other three were transported to a central laboratory in Adelaide in physiological saline, Portagerm pylori transport medium or after culture on a chocolate agar plate which was placed in a Biobag. Helicobacter pylori was isolated from 18.3% of patients. There was a 95.7% concordance between culture results and the CLOtest result. Recovery rates after transport on chocolate agar, Portagerm pylori and in saline were 90.2, 90.2 and 84.3%, respectively.