Helicobacter pylori is a gram-negative, bent rod-shaped bacteria linked to peptic ulcers and other digestive system problems. The urea breath test is used to identify Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a kind of bacterium that may infect the stomach and is a leading cause of stomach and duodenal ulcers (the first part of the small intestine).
Despite the fact that the urea breath test (UBT) is regarded the first-line diagnostic method for H. pylori, the low availability of UBT kits throughout the sampling phase in South Africa had a minor impact. Several government initiatives, however, were made to better understand the state of H. pylori infections in Nigeria and other African nations, which may be ascribed as a driving factor for the region's urea breath test market.
For example, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, a German Research Foundation, launched an effort in collaboration with the German-African Infectiology to investigate the epidemiology of Helicobacter pylori in Africa. This entailed collaborating with eight Nigerian hospitals, as well as hospitals in Lagos and Munich, to provide access to urease breath tests and biopsy exams for the effective detection of H. pylori in the community.
What does a urea breath test show?
This test looks for Helicobacter pylori bacteria in your breath, which can cause gastritis (inflammation of the stomach mucous membrane) or ulcers in the stomach and small intestine. The treatment is painless and non-invasive, and it takes around 20 minutes.
What does a positive H pylori breath test mean?
A positive H. pylori stool antigen, breath test, or biopsy result shows that you have a peptic ulcer caused by these bacteria. To eliminate the germs and halt the pain and ulceration, a combination of antibiotics and other drugs will be provided.
The urea breath test is a non-invasive, easy, and safe test that has high accuracy for both the initial diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection and the confirmation of its eradication following therapy. A single, widely accepted cut-off level is not achievable since it must be tailored to many circumstances such as the test meal, the amount and type of urea, or the pre-/post-treatment context. Because positive and negative urea breath test results tend to cluster outside of the range of 2 to 5, a change in cut-off number within this range is likely to have minimal influence on clinical accuracy of the test.