Occurrence of Campylobacter pyloridis in patients from Vienna with gastritis and peptic ulcers

During routine gastroduodenoscopic examination of 120 patients, biopsies of gastric mucosa were taken for the isolation of Campylobacter pyloridis. The organism was isolated from six of seven patients with ulcus ventriculi, 14 of 15 with ulcus duodeni, 15 of 20 with erosions of the gastric mucosa, 31 of 61 with gastritis and five of five with duodenitis. In contrast, the cultures were negative in all of the 12 patients with histologically normal mucosa. C. pyloridis was isolated significantly more frequently from patients with active chronic gastritis than from those with inactive chronic gastritis (100% vs. 50%). These results support the suggestion of Marshall and Warren that this bacterium may play an important role in the development of gastritis and peptic ulcer.