Oral Helicobacter pylori: a scoping review and pilot study on the PCR-culture detection paradox
Erin Miller, Jasmin Pyu Pyu Wai Htun, Julie-Anne Martis, Kausar Sadia Fakhruddin, Eng Chua, Alfred Tay, Hooi Ee, Erwin A Paz, Victor Haruo Matsubara · 2026
Read Oral Helicobacter pylori: a scoping review and pilot study on the PCR-culture detection paradox by Erin Miller, Jasmin Pyu Pyu Wai Htun, Julie-Anne Martis, Kausar Sadia Fakhruddin, Eng Chua, Alfred Tay, Hooi Ee, Erwin A Paz, Victor Haruo Matsubara (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13585946.txt.
Description
Erin Miller and co-authors review whether the mouth harbors the stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori, in a 2026 paper paired with a pilot study. Gene based tests often find the bacterium in the mouth, while culture tests almost never grow it there. That paradox clouds the mouth's role as a reservoir.
The review covered thirty nine studies with over three thousand people. Detection by gene tests ranged from zero to ninety percent, while live growth was vanishingly rare. In their own pilot with eight known positive people, gene tests found bacterial DNA in half, more often on the mouth lining than in plaque. Culture grew none. The authors conclude oral presence is likely fleeting, not stable colonization.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Erin Miller, Jasmin Pyu Pyu Wai Htun, Julie-Anne Martis, Kausar Sadia Fakhruddin, Eng Chua, Alfred Tay, Hooi Ee, Erwin A Paz, Victor Haruo Matsubara |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 82 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |