[Campylobacter pylori in the stomach, duodenum and colon of gastroenterological patients. An epidemiologic study of 120 subjects].

In a prospective study of 120 gastroenterological patients in Berlin, Germany, the prevalence of Campylobacter pylori was determined. When the gastric mucosa was normal, the prevalence was one in 19 patients (5.3%). In 101 patients with chronic gastritis it was cultured in 55 (54.5%). In 31 patients with chronic atrophic gastritis the organism was cultured in 25 (81%); in 60 patients with severe gastritis it was present in 75%, in 35 with moderate or severe chronic active gastritis in 82.8%. The diagnosis of gastric ulcer (9) or duodenal ulcer (12) was associated with the isolation of Campylobacter pylori in 55.6 and 91.7%, respectively. The prevalence of this organism in antral mucosa of this group of patients thus corresponds to that in Australia, England and North America. The organism was also demonstrated in the duodenum of 10 among 25 patients examined. But in none of 25 patients was it demonstrated in the sigmoid colon.