[Lactic acid bacteria and streptococci of the human stomach normally and in pathological processes]

Lactic acid bacteria were either absent or present in negligent quantities in the stomach of apparently healthy man. But in case of various pathological processes in the stomach and duodenum lactic acid bacteria accumulated (up to a million cells per 1 ml of gastric contents). Under these conditions coccal forms sharply prevailed over the bacillary ones. In patients with chronic gastritis and peptic ulcer of the stomach the most frequent were Streptococcus faecalis and its variants; in oncological patients--Str. faecium, strains affiliated to Leuconostoc mesenteroides, and sometimes Str. durans.