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  • Gastric bacterial overgrowth is a cause of false positive diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection using13C urea breath test

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Gastric bacterial overgrowth is a cause of false positive diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection using13C urea breath test
  1. L MICHAUD,
  2. F GOTTRAND,
  3. P S GANGA-ZANDZOU,
  4. N WIZLA-DERAMBURE,
  5. D TURCK
  1. P VINCENT
  1. Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology
  2. University Hospital of Lille, Lille, France
  3. Department of Bacteriology
  1. Dr Gottrand, Unité de Gastroentérologie, Hépatologie et Nutrition, Clinique de Pédiatrie, Hôpital Jeanne de Flandre, 59037 Lille, France.

https://doi.org/10.1136/gut.42.4.594-b

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    Editor,—We read with interest the paper by Dominguez-Munos et al (Gut1997;40:459–62) describing an optimal test drink in the13C-urea breath test (13C UBT) for the diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection. In this study all H pylori negative subjects (adults with dyspeptic symptoms) had a negative result with the 13C UBT (specificity 100%) after different meals. In other studies, using13C UBT to document H pylori infection both in adults and children, the sensitivity of the test ranged from 92 to 100% whereas specificity was usually above 92%.1 ,2However, no explanation has been given for the occurrence of false positive tests. Methodological bias and problems in defining the cut off value are possible reasons. However, there are …

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