Epidemiology and Diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori Infection

Medline, PubMed and the Cochrane databases were searched on epidemiology and diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori for the period of April 2011March 2012. Several studies have shown that the prevalence of H.similar to pylori infection is decreasing in adults and children in many countries. Various diagnostic tests are available, and most of them have high sensitivity and specificity. The Maastricht IV/Florence consensus report states that the urea breath test using 13C urea remains the best test to diagnose H.similar to pylori infection. Among the stool antigen tests, the ELISA monoclonal antibody test is recommended. All these tests were used, either as a single diagnostic test or in combination, to investigate H.similar to pylori infection among different populations throughout the world. Of particular interest, current improvements in high-resolution endoscopic technologies enable increased diagnostic accuracy for the detection of H.similar to pylori infection, but none of these techniques, at present, are specific enough for obtaining a real-time diagnosis of H.similar to pylori infection.