Controversies regarding management of Helicobacter pylori infections

Abstract

Purpose of review The recognition that Helicobacter pylori should be considered and treated as an infectious disease has yet to fundamentally change diagnostic and treatment practices and has resulted in many controversies. Recent findings We discuss the following controversies: whether the current ‘per-patient’ approach to H. pylori testing based on symptoms should be expanded to include achieving population-level H. pylori eradication, whether H. pylori should be approached as an infectious gastrointestinal disease similar to that of other infectious diseases of similar severity and outcome, whether treatment of H. pylori should be primarily empiric or based on antibiotic susceptibility and locally proven successful therapies as are other infectious diseases, whether it is necessary to obtain confirmation of treatment success in every patient treated for H. pylori, and whether potassium-competitive acid blockers should replace proton pump inhibitors in H. pylori therapy. Summary Available guidelines and meta-analyses do not yet address H. pylori as an infectious disease. The diagnosis and management and treatment success of H. pylori infections trails behind that of other important infectious diseases. We provide new insights and propose changes in the traditional understanding required to modernize the management of H. pylori infections.