Prevalence of Active Helicobacter pylori Infection among Dyspeptic Patients in Jos, North Central Nigeria: A Urea Breath Test-based Study

Abstract

Background: Helicobacter pylori is seroprevalent globally (about half of the world). It’s a cause of both gastric and extra-gastric conditions. Nigeria has one of the highest prevalences in the world. Demonstrating the presence of an active organism is very important, as not all individuals with a positive serology result have active organisms. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of active organisms in dyspeptic patients using the Urea Breath Test. Methodology: Dyspeptic patients who had been off antibiotics or bismuth salt for 4 weeks (and PPIs for 2 weeks) were tested. After adequately explaining the procedure to the participants, a 14C- labelled capsule was given to them to swallow with about 250 ml of water. After 15 minutes, they blew repeatedly into a mouthpiece attached to a Urea-14C Breath test kit collection card. This was continued until the yellow indicator turned orange. The collection card was then immediately inserted into a Headway HUBT-20P Helicobacter pylori test system analyser for 5 minutes. Results: Two hundred and sixty-six (266) dyspeptic patients participated in the study from April 2021 to December 2022. Only 37.6% of them were males. The mean age of the participants was 38.64 Years (SD 18.75), and most were married (62.7%). Thirty-three per cent (33%) were single, 4% widowed, and only one per cent were divorced. Students made up about 27.5% and civil servants made up 22.5%. The least proportion was health workers (2.9%), while 29.4% were in the category of other professions. The median Cpm-value was 39.00 (11.0, 132.0) and the mean was 84.01 (102.33). The proportion of patients who tested positive for H. pylori using the UBT was 125/266. This equated to a prevalence of 47.0 % Conclusion: The prevalence of 47% of dyspeptic patients testing positive for active Helicobacter pylori was obtained using the Urea Breath Test method.