Campylobacter pylori in Swedish patients referred for gastroscopy.

Campylobacter pylori was isolated more often from patient with peptic ulcers and in an age-related manner in a material of 395 consecutive patients referred for gastroscopy. Direct microscopy was done with Gram and Acridine Orange stain and found too insensitive for practical use. All patients were investigated serologically with an enzyme immunoassay which showed excellent correlation with positive cultures for C. pylori. The findings were discussed, and the enzyme immunoassay, with a negative predictive value of 0.99, was found to be a valuable tool for primary screening of patients suspected of being carriers of C. pylori.