Comparing the Iron Level of Patients Infected with Helicobacter pylori Ag+ and Ab+ that Suffer from Gastrointestinal Problems in Al-Najaf Province

Abstract

Background: Helicobacter pylori is a spiral (helical), Gram-negative, microaerophilic bacteria that is typically present in the stomach, it is believed as helical form, which gives rise to the genus name helicobacter, evolved to allow it to pierce the stomach's mucoid lining and spread infection. Aim: This study included two main axes: the first is the diagnosis of H. pylori by antibody test in blood and antigen in feces. The second axis is to estimate the level of iron in patients and compare them with healthy control. Material and method: The total samples included in this study were 105 subjects represented by 80 patients (screened by H. Pylori Ab and Ag rapid test) with the gastrointestinal problems and 25 healthy controls. Results: The number of people infected with H. pylori is (45), divided to 19 were Ab+ 15 were Ag+, and 11 were Ag+ and Ab+. The iron level of all these groups was estimated and compared with the healthy group. So, the results showed that there is only a significant difference between patients who carry antigen and antibody together with (P. value =0.001), as their iron level was very low with (Mean 39.82) as comparing with control. In addition, moreover, there was a significant difference between antigen and antibody carrier patients together with all other groups (antigen positive, antibody positive, gastrointestinal patients without infection with H. pylori) with P. value (0.003, 0.002, 0.001) respectively. Conclusions: The current study revealed that high distribution of H. pylori infection in gastrointestinal disturbance patients and decreased Iron serum level specially in individual with concurrent acute and chronic infection.