Helicobacter Forums

Hi,
My 12-year-old daughter tested stool H pylori antigen positive after a second round of treatment (4 drug regimen). The test was done four days after she finished the treatment. However, biopsy from endoscopy revealed inflammation of gastric lining, but immunostaining for h pylori was negative. The endoscope was done 11 days after the completion of the treatment. The doctor made a mistake, and culture and sensitivity were not done.

My daughter continues to be miserable with abdominal pain and nausea.
Is she still infected with H pylori? Please advise what to do.
Thank you so much.

I believe H. pylori has been eradicated from your daughter. Then again, 4 days may be too early to tell if the bacteria is really eradicated or just lowered to a very small amount to give false negative result. In our standard procedure, we ask patients to do a follow up breath test 4 weeks after the antibiotics. So, any H. pylori survival will have enough time to grow up and give a true reading in either breath or stool test. If really there is no H. pylori survival, then 4 weeks later, the breath or stool test should remain negative.

in regards to the inflammation, it does take time to slowly subside. So it's normal that the endoscopy sees a bit of inflammation.

H. pylori is the most common cause of stomach problem, but not the only problem. Perhaps your specialist will have to do other tests to find out other non-helicobacter related stomach problem. unfortunately this is a very poorly studied area and many patients suffer this non-helicobacter related problem.

your daughter has taken strong antibiotics and PPI. so perhaps bacteria and stomach acid are not the problem. try fungus or yeast or parasite.

Thank you so much! It is very helpful.