Helicobacter pylori infection in healthy people: a dynamic process?

Epidemiological studies using serological tests have shown that a large proportion of healthy people have antibodies against Helicobacter pylori (anti-Hp). It is uncertain whether the presence of anti-Hp indicates active infection or only past exposure to the micro-organism. In this study we determined anti-Hp with a specific enzyme linked immunosorbent assay in 100 healthy volunteers who were at the same time investigated for active H pylori infection by means of the 13C-urea breath test. Forty nine per cent had a high anti-Hp titre, but only 24% had active H pylori infection. Our study suggests that a considerable number of healthy people previously infected with H pylori have spontaneously eliminated this microorganism. We suggest that the inability of ulcer patients to eliminate H pylori may be important in the pathogenesis of peptic ulcer disease.

Inadequate reporting of analytical quality control in the clinical pharmacological literature.

Quality control parameters were surveyed in the clinical pharmacological literature of 1984 and 1985, as published by the European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, and Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Papers which included newly developed methods gave details about precision and sensitivity in more than 60% and about accuracy and specificity in nearly 30%. Fewer than one-third of all articles containing analytical methods, described by citation only, gave information about precision and sensitivity in the originating laboratory, and accuracy and specificity were reported by less than 10% of them. These data represent an important deficiency in laboratory information in the clinical pharmacological literature.