Abstract

A retrospective survey was undertaken of 228 resected Meckel's diverticula to determine if there was any evidence of Campylobacter pylori infection in diverticula containing gastric mucosa. Among the 65 diverticula with gastric mucosa one was heavily infected with organisms having the morphological appearances of C pylori. The specimen had been removed from a six year old Samoan boy who had been admitted with small bowel obstruction. Infection and associated mucosal inflammatory infiltrate were limited to areas of gastric mucosa only. The detection of the organism at this site remote from the gastroduodenal environment suggests the organism may be transmitted by the orofaecal route.