Dear Doctor, I'm a 38 year old poz male, currantly on Reyetaz, Truvada, and Norvir, who, after having some pain in the center of my abdomen in Jan of this year, tested positive for H. pylori. I took the PrevPac, but a endoscopy showed the H. pylori was still there. I finished the second course of different antibiotics and pump inhibitors about 3 weeks ago, but the pain aroudn my naval persisted, so my g.i. doc ordered a CT. The CT only showed a thickening of my gall bladder, with all my bloodwork looking good. Could this thickening be related to the H. pylori, or could one of my meds, i.e. Reyetaz be at fault. My g.i. doc wants to do an ultrasound, but i'm confused as to what that would show vs. the CT i've already done. Any light you could shed on this issue would be greatly appeciated. Thank you very much for your time. B.

To my knowledge atazanavir has not been linked to h pylori infection or thickened gallbladder wall. Gallbladder and H pylori issues can be challenging even in the general population often with no black and white easy answers (tests often equivocal) so your situation is not that unusual (remains frustrating however). Assessing further gallbladder anatomy and function with additional tests seems reasonable. KH