Recovery of Helicobacter pylori from gastric biopsy specimens is not dependent on the transport medium used.

The survival of six clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori at room temperature was investigated after suspension in five different media: brucella broth with 5% lysed horse blood (BBLH), phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), 20% glucose, Stuart medium, and PBS with 10% Fildes enrichment (PBS-F). Only in BBLH and PBS-F no decrease in mean bacterial numbers was observed during the 24-h study period. No H. pylori isolates could be cultured from Stuart medium after 7 h of incubation. In contrast, the recovery rates in PBS-F or Stuart medium of H. pylori isolates from gastric tissue specimens collected from 19 H. pylori-positive patients were not significantly different even after a delay of culture of up to 24 h. Our data show that the medium composition is not critical for the survival of H. pylori within gastric tissue specimens.