one myth goes down the drain. inflammation of the stomach (gastritis) and ulceration of the stomach or duodenum (peptic ulcer) are not caused by stress but are infections of the stomach caused by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori.
Robin Warren and Barry Marshall took home the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for this surprising discovery. Warren, a pathologist from Perth, Australia, noticed small curved bacteria colonizing the lower part of the stomach in about 50% of patients from which biopsies had been taken. he made the important observation that signs of inflammation were always present in the gastric mucosa close to where the bacteria were seen.
Barry Marshall, a young clinical fellow, became interested in Warren's findings and together they made a study of biopsies from 100 patients. after several attempts, Marshall succeeded in cultivating a hitherto unknown bacterial species (later denoted as Helicobacter pylori) from several of these biopsies. their study firmly established that Helicobacter pylori causes more than 90% of duodenal ulcers and up to 80% of gastric ulcers. further studies have shown that patients could be cured from their peptic ulcer disease only when the bacteria were eradicated from the stomach.
(nobelprize.org/medicine)
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