Distribution of Campylobacter pylori in the human stomach obtained at postmortem.

The distribution of Campylobacter pylori, its prevalence, and its relationship to gastritis and urease activity have been studied in 54 postmortem stomachs. Infection was confirmed by finding C. pylori in a Gram-stained smear of gastric mucus harvested from the entire stomach. Eight tissue specimens were obtained from predetermined sites from each stomach and examined for histologic gastritis and urease activity. Thirty-seven per cent of stomachs were infected, and of these 80% had widespread histologic gastritis. The detection of urease activity provided information on the distribution of the organism and had a high correlation with histologic gastritis. The organism is capable of infecting any area of the stomach. Infection is common and is more prevalent in Polynesian subjects (60%) than in Caucasians (19%).