Helicobacter pylori is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium that inhabits various areas of the stomach and duodenum. It causes a chronic low-level inflammation of the stomach lining and is strongly linked to the development of duodenal and gastric ulcers and stomach cancer.
80% of ulcers are associated with Helicobacter pylori, a spiral-shaped bacterium that lives in the acidic environment of the stomach, however only 20% of those cases go to a doctor.
Symptoms of a peptic ulcer can be:
• Abdominal pain, classically epigastric with severity relating to mealtimes, after around 3 hours of taking a meal (duodenal ulcers are classically relieved by food, while gastric ulcers are exacerbated by it);
• Bloating and abdominal fullness
• Waterbrash (rush of saliva after an episode of regurgitation to dilute the acid in esophagus)
• Nausea, and lots of vomiting
• Loss of appetite and weight loss;
• Hematemesis (vomiting of blood);
• Melena (tarry, foul-smelling faeces due to oxidized iron from hemoglobin)
• Rarely, an ulcer can lead to a gastric or duodenal perforation. This is extremely painful and requires immediate surgery.
The diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori can be by:
• Breath testing (does not require EGD);
• Direct culture from an EGD biopsy specimen;
• Direct detection of urease activity in a biopsy specimen;
• Measurement of antibody levels in blood (does not require EGD). It is still somewhat controversial whether a positive antibody without EGD is enough to warrant eradication therapy.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peptic_ulcer
The bacteria H. pylori (Helicobacter pylori) usually don't cause problems in childhood. However, if left untreated the bacteria can lead to digestive illnesses, including gastritis (the irritation and inflammation of the lining of the stomach), peptic ulcer disease (characterized by sores that form in the stomach or the upper part of the small intestine, called the duodenum), and even stomach cancer later in life.
How long does the treatment take?
H. pylori is eradicated in 75-95 per cent of subjects within 4 weeks of starting treatment.
1 comment:
oooo i know this bacteria!
it's very very common~
all of my family members & some of my relatives have had this problem except for me wheeee :p
they took some kind of 2 weeks medication and the bacteria has gone=_=
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