Other

The Procter Gamble Company

University of Virginia Patent Foundation

Barry J Marshall

Richard Littleton Guerrant

A method for the in vivo detection of urease-producing Helicobacter in the upper stomach is disclosed. The dense carrier is divided into two separate groups which are combined with separate reagent indicators, one of which also contains urea. The carriers are food soluble products, preferably sugar beads having a diameter of approximately 0.2 to 3.0 mm. The treated carriers and urea are encapsulated in a soluble capsule which is administered to a patient. The density of the carriers cause the capsule to migrate to the gastric mucosa, where the capsule, but not the reagents, is dissolved, placing the reagents and urea in direct contact with the gastric mucosa. The urea reacts with any urease present in the stomach by creating ammonia, which increases the pH in the immediate vicinity of the urea containing carrier and indicator beads. The two reagents react differently, through color change, to the increase in pH, which is viewed through use of an endoscope. A preferred first reagent is bromothymol blue (dibromothymolsulfonphthalein), which changes yellow in the presence of urease, and a preferred second reagent is phenol red (phenolsulfonphthalein), which turns red in the presence of urease.

Detection of helicobacter pylori in the stomach

Methods, for the treatment of humans and lower animal subjects having a gastrointestinal disorder, comprising administering bismuth and administering an antimicrobial. From about 50 to about 5000 milligrams of bismuth are administered, per day, for from 3 to 56 days. A safe and effective amount of antimicrobial is administered for from 1 to 21 days. Preferred processes also include a step for performing a diagnostic test on the subject for detection of a campylobacter-like organism infection of the subject. The invention also provides compositions containing a safe and effective amount of bismuth and a safe and effective amount of antimicrobial.

Methods and compositions for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders

A method of enrichment and isolation of urease producing organisms from a contaminated specimen by first homogenizing the contaminated specimen in water, then introducing the homogenized contaminated specimen into a solution of urea in an acid, wherein some of the organisms are killed by the acidic medium and remaining organisms are protected from acid attack by creating a protective ammonia by breaking down the urea, and plating the remaining organisms onto a medium which contains antibiotics inhibitory to some of the remaining organisms, but not inhibitory to organisms to be isolated.

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Charlottesville, VA, United States of America

Barry J Marshall