AIM:To detect whether there is Helicobacter pylori(Hpylori)colonization in the pharynx mucous membraneof healthy people and whether chronic pharyngitis is re-lated to Hpylori infection.METHODS:Fifty cases of chronic pharyngitis refrac-tory over three months were prospectively studied fromMarch 2004 to August 2004 in the otolaryngology outpa-tient department of the Second Hospital of Xi’an JiaotongUniversity.Template-directed dye-terminator incorporat-ed with fluorescence polarization detection(TDI-FP)andmodified Giemsa stain were used to examine pharynxmucous membrane tissue for Hpylori colonization in thepatients with chronic pharyngitis and the healthy peopleas a control group.RESULTS:In the control group,no people were de-tected to have Hpylori in the pharynx.In contrast,in 50cases with chronic pharyngitis,19(38.0%)cases wereH pyIori positive with a TDI-FP assay and 4(8%)caseswere TDI-FP positive with Giemsa staining in the phar-ynx.Sixteen of the 50 pharyngitis cases had stomachailment history,11 cases(68.8%)of these 16 patientswere determined to be H pylori positive in the pharynxwith the TDI-FP assay.x~2 test showed that this infectionrate was remarkably higher(P=0.0007)than that in thecases without stomach ailment history.Giemsa stainingshowed that 3 cases(18.8%)of the patients with stom-ach ailment history were infected with H pylori in the pharynx,which was remarkably higher(P=0.042)thanthat in the patients without stomach ailment history(1case,which was 2.9%).CONCLUSION:H pylori may not be detected in thepharynx of healthy people.Chronic pharyngitis maybe related to H pylori infection.The infection rate withHpylori in the pharynx is higher in patients with stomachailment histories than in patients without stomach ail-ment histories,suggesting that chronic pharyngitis maybe related to stomach ailment history. AIM: To detect whether there is Helicobacter pylori (Hpylori) colonization in the pharynx mucous membrane of healthy people and whether chronic pharyngitis is re-lated to Hpylori infection. METHODS: Fifty cases of chronic pharyngitis refrac-tory over three months were prospectively studied from March 2004 to August 2004 in the otolaryngology outpa-tient department of the Second Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University. Template-directed dye-terminator incorporat-ed with fluorescence polarization detection (TDI-FP) and modified Giemsa stain were used to examine pharynx mucus membrane tissue for Hpylori colonization in the patients with chronic pharyngitis and the healthy people as a control group .RESULTS: In the control group, no people were de-tected to have Hpylori in the pharynx. In contrast, in 50cases with chronic pharyngitis, 19 (38.0%) cases wereH TDI-FP positive with Giemsa staining in the phar-ynx. Sixteen of the 50 pharyngitis cases had stomachail ment history, 11 cases (68.8%) of these 16 patients were determined to be H pylori positive in the pharynx with the TDI-FP assay.x ~ 2 test showed that this infection rate was remarkably higher (P = 0.0007) than that in thecases without stomach ailment history.Giemsa stainingshowed that 3 cases (18.8%) of the patients with stom-ach ailment history were infected with H pylori in the pharynx, which was remarkably higher (P = 0.042) thanthat in the patients without stomach ailment history (1case, which was 2.9%. CONCLUSION: H pylori may not be detected in the pharynx of healthy people. Chronic pharyngitis may related to H pylori infection. The infection rate with hpylori in the pharynx is higher in patients with stomachail histories than in patients without stomach ail- ment histories, suggesting that chronic pharyngitis maybe related to stomach ailment history.