H-pylori test

[cazzz1975]

What is the difference when being tested for h-pylori if you have a breath test as opposed to a blood test?

I had a blood test a year ago for h-pylori which came back negative, They now want to do a breath test to detect h-pylori...surely this will be negative as well??

[LazyGun]

A blood test for H.Pylori looks for antibodies to said organism. Those antibodies can take several months to clear from the system, once the H.Pylori has been treated. So a blood test is not particularly good for trying to determine whether someone has an active infection at the time of testing.
A breath test ( testing for urea) on the other hand, is pretty good at detecting whether there is an active infection going on.
So these tests are usually used in the following manner.
1. Blood test to confirm H.Pylori, in conjunction with clinical observation and with other tests.
2. A breath test, following a treatment protocol, to see if the H.Pylori has been successfully treated and eradicated.

The fact that a blood test a year ago which came back negative for H.Pylori does not unequivocally rule out H.Pylori as a cause of your condition Cazz.... it could be that the antibody response had already dissipated, or it could have been a false negative for example.
All they are doing, i think, is attempting to determine whether you have an active H.Pylori iinfection currently, and the breath test is probably a better diagnostic tool for that than the blood test, for the reasons i mentioned in the initial paragraph.

[Sqad]

1) question........I have no idea

2)question.........I would have assumed so.

LazyGun is quite an expert on these matters........contact him......fao LazyGun

[Sqad]

LazyGun....sorry......we were typing at the same time.

[cazzz1975]

cracking answer lazygun, thank you.

I dont like to fao abers sqad, Im happy with any useful replies :)

[LazyGun]

glad you found it useful cazz, and no problems, sqad