en Microbiology Microbiology Original Article Original Article <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:14pt"><span new="" roman="" times=""><b><i><span style="color:blue">Background</span></i></b><i><span style="color:blue">:</span></i> <em><span style="background:white">Helicobacter pylori infection</span></em><span style="background:white">&nbsp;can be a risk factor for non-cardia gastric cancer.</span> In the present study, we aimed to assess the rate of <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> infection, its virulence factor and precancerous lesion among over 50 years old, dyspeptic patients with normal endoscopy.<span style="font-size:9.0pt"></span></span></span><br> <span style="line-height:14pt"><span new="" roman="" times=""><b><i><span style="color:blue">Methods</span></i></b><i><span style="color:blue">:</span></i> A total of 620 patients over 50 years of age with dyspepsia that referred to Shahid Sadoughi Hospital, Yazd, Iran from December 2018 to January 2019<span style="letter-spacing:.15pt"> were </span><span style="letter-spacing:-.15pt">evaluated</span>. One hundred fifty patients with normal appearance endoscopy were selected, and <span style="letter-spacing:.15pt">six gastric biopsy specimens were taken from each subject. </span>Data were analyzed using chi-square and logistic <span style="letter-spacing:-.15pt">regression </span>tests.<i><span style="font-size:10.0pt"></span></i></span></span><br> <span style="line-height:14pt"><span new="" roman="" times=""><b><i><span style="color:blue">Results</span></i></b><i><span style="color:blue">:</span></i> A total of 150 patients with mean age of 65.8&plusmn;11.9 years old participated in this study. Sixty-three (42%) patients were males. Thirty-four (22.6%) patients had precancerous lesions. Ninety (60%) patients had positive PCR results for <i>H. pylori</i>. <i>H. pylori</i> infection test was positive in 24 (70.6%) patients with precancerous lesion. Sixty-six (57%) patients without the precancerous lesions (116 cases) were positive for <i>H. pylori.</i><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt"></span></i></span></span><br> <span style="line-height:14pt"><span new="" roman="" times=""><b><i><span style="color:blue">Conclusion</span></i></b><i><span style="color:blue">:</span></i> There was no a significant difference in the rate of <i>H. pylori</i> infection and its genotype distribution was between patients with and without the precancerous lesions.</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:14pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="color:#0033cc"></span></span></i></b></span></span></span> Helicobacter pylori, Gastric Cancer, Dyspepsia, Precancerous Lesions, prevalence, cagA, vacA 398 404 http://caspjim.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1109-5&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Hassan Salmanroghani salmanh@yahoo.com 100319475328460037610 100319475328460037610 No Department of Internal Medicine, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran Mohammad Hassan Rouzegari shayesteh2009@yahoo.co.uk 100319475328460037611 100319475328460037611 Yes Department of Gastroenterology, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Roham Salmanroghani roham salmanr@yahoo.com 100319475328460037612 100319475328460037612 No Department of Gastroenterology, Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran