[The efficacy of the Helicobacter pylori eradication in people of an advanced age].

In a group of 112 patients aged 65 to 72 years with chronic gastritis (48 persons), a peptic ulcer (30 persons), a duodenal ulcer (34 persons) bacteriological examinations were conducted aiming at determining the sensitivity to antibiotics of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) strains isolated from the month (gingival pockets), the stomach or duodenal mucous, from stool samples and from the skin of the hands. The sensitivity to antibiotics was tested with the diffusive-disc method taking into consideration 23 chemotherapeutic agents. It was shown that with the use of single antibiotics the chance of efficiently elimination the H. pylori infection from the area of the whole alimentary canal (month, stomach, duodenum, large bowel) amounted to 14.3-35.7% depending on the chemotherapeutics used, where with the use of a two-medicine therapy (metronidazol + amoxycillin) it increased to 42.9%. This means that in people of an advanced age the chemotherapy carried out with the aim of liquidating the infection in the stomach or duodenum mucousa creates possibilities for the H. pylori infection to persist in other parts of the alimentary canal ranging from 64.3 to 85.7%. This way the patient treated may then undergo self-infection as well as be a source of infection for other persons.