Helicobacter pylori (HP) was first described in 1983 by Warren and Marshall.' It is a spiral-shaped bacterium measuring 2-4p,m x 0.5-1.0μm. Since it was discovered, the organism has rarely been isolated from sites other than the stomach.2 Available evidence, therefore, points to the human stomach as the normal habitat of this bacterium. The infection is contracted primarily in childhood.' It has been shown that colonisation by HP is rare under the age of five years, but thereafter, it becomes gradually more frequent, and by sixty years of age more than 50% of individuals may be affected