ABSTRACT
This study was based on the fact that the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection is increasing rapidly especially among the middle aged group. Identification of the disease by using an accurate and noninvasive method is of great importance. For this reason in this study, comparison of two methods of the detection of Helicobacter pylori infection [the presence of antibody in the serum and antigen in the stool] using ELISA tests with gold standard method were carried out. Blood samples were taken from 192 patients who for various reasons indicated endoscopy for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori and are referred to the Taleghani hospital. The presence of antibody against Helicobacter pylori were checked in serum samples and at the same time stool samples were also collected from each patient and the presence of antigen in the stool samples were also checked. Using the gold standard method, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative productive values for both methods were determined and the results for ELISA that recognized the antibody in sera were 91.6, 85.4, 86.0, 91.0 and for ELISA that recognized the antigen in stool samples were 96.8, 97.9, 97.9, 96.9 respectively. Our results shows that stool antigen testing is more accurate compared with the antibody detection in the serum samples