Small intestinal bacterial growth in systemic sclerosis

Twenty unselected patients with proven systemic sclerosis had cultures of jejunal juice, and glucose/hydrogen breath tests for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Seven had counts of over I06 organisms/ml, higher than was ever found in a control group. Four of these seven had a positive breath test. Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth appears to be relatively common in systemic sclerosis, affecting approximately one‐third of unselected patients.