H. pylori Blog

The stomach bacteria Helicobacter pylori infects nearly 50% of the world’s population. H. pylori causes up to 90% of stomach ulcers and, if left untreated, can increase the risk of developing gastric cancer. A recent study in the Journal of Food Biochemistry suggests that fermented apple juice has the potential to inhibit growth of H. pylori in the stomach.

H. pylori infects nearly half the world’s population. The bacteria is associated with conditions such as dyspepsia and symptoms such as heartburn and nausea. H. pylori causes up to 90% of stomach ulcers and long-term infection is also a well-established risk factor for developing gastric cancer. The role of H. pylori infection in patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) is a much debated topic. A recent review article dealing with FD in Asian populations includes a consensus statement suggesting that H. pylori may play a much stronger causative role in the onset of FD in Asian versus Western populations.

The common stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori infects nearly half the world’s population. It has been linked to many symptoms and conditions, ranging from dyspepsia to stomach ulcers and gastric cancer. While H. pylori infection is most commonly associated with gastrointestinal conditions, a new study published in Ophthalmic Research documents the presence of the bacterium in patients with glaucoma.

Exalenz Bioscience, Inc., a provider of breath testing equipment for the diagnosis and management of digestive system and liver conditions, today announced the installation of its BreathID^® System for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) detection at the Johns Hopkins Health Care & Surgery Center at Green Spring Station.

The bacterium Helicobacter pylori infects nearly half the world’s population and long-term infection is well established as a risk factor for gastric cancer.  Researchers now report they have determined how the H. pylori bacteria triggers a series of biological processes that ultimately lead to cell death.   The study , led by University of Illinois microbiology professor Steven Blanke, describes how H. pylori can cause a cell’s mitochondria to break apart, setting in motion the cell’s death and raising the risk of further mutations that can lead to the growth of cancer cells.

New guidelines issued on behalf of the British Society of Gastroenterology were published in the most recent print issue of GUT. Patients with Iron Deficiency Anemia (IDA) who have had a normal upper GI endoscopy and/or normal colonoscopy should be tested for H. pylori, according to the guidelines, noting that “IDA affects 2-5% of adult men and post-menopausal women in the developed world.”

Helicobacter pylori infection has long been associated with an increased risk of gastric cancer. A new study in the journal PNAS reports that H. pylori can cause damage to human cell DNA, a finding consistent with the bacterium’s carcinogenic properties.

Medscape Medical News recently reported in an online article that the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen is petitioning the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to add black box warnings to  the product labels of all proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) on the market.

 

Helicobacter pylori eradication rates of currently accepted triple therapy regimens vary between geographic locations and do not exceed 70–80%. Eradication rates are much lower in locations where uncontrolled antibiotic use is common such as Turkey. A study recently published online from the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics aimed to test whether supplementing vitamins C and E to standard triple therapy, including a proton pump inhibitor plus amoxicillin plus clarithromycin, increased the H. pylori eradication rate. 

Helicobacter pylori infection is a risk factor for gastric cancer. A recent study in the Journal of Gastroenterolgy and Hepatology evaluated whether H. pylori infection and premalignant histological changes are more prevalent in siblings of young gastric cancer patients.

Chronic gastritis caused by the bacteria Helicobacter pylori is likely involved in the development and growth of abnormal colorectal tissue says researchers in a Japanese study, published online in the International Journal of Cancer. H. pylori affects roughly 50 percent of the world’s population and is linked to ulcers, gastritis, and cancer.

Helicobacter pylori, a bacteria that infects about half of the world’s population, is the most significant risk factor in gastric cancer. Nevertheless, no connection has been made with gastric cardia cancer, the type that occurs in the top area of the stomach.

Long-term gastric cancer remains a threat even after the successful eradication of Helicobacter pylori, reports a group of researchers in Japan. This follows a previous study where the researchers reported that the risk of developing gastric cancer was reduced in patients with peptic ulcer diseases who were successfully treated for H. pylori.

Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy is more successful in older patients than in younger ones. This was the finding in a recent Japanese study published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

 

While Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy has been established as a step in preventing gastric cancer and peptic ulcers, a new study suggests that H. pylori eradication post gastric resection might prevent the development of cancer following surgery.

With over 50% of the world’s population infected with Helicobacter pylori, successful treatment is vital. Worldwide guidelines recommend that first-line Helicobacter pylori infection therapies should have at least a 90% eradication success rate; nevertheless, this rate is often not achieved with the standard triple therapy.

Scientists in China compared three H. pylori therapies in an aim to determine the most effective. In a random, double-blind, comparative clinical trial, researchers looked at three eradication therapies for H. pylori: the standard, so-called triple therapy, a bismuth pectin quadruple therapy and a sequential therapy. The findings were recently published online in the World Journal of Gastroenterology.

According to scientists, Helicobacter pylori, a bacteria linked to ulcers and some types of stomach cancer, requires vitamin B6 to thrive and keep up chronic infection. In research published recently in the online journal mBio™, scientists also identified the enzymes needed to use the vitamin.

Have the antimicrobial drugs used to eradicate Helicobacter pylori been responsible for the decrease in hospitalization rates for infection with peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and Helicobacter pylori (h. pylori)? This was the question posed by researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia. Their findings are to be published in the September 2010 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

With antibiotic resistance an increasingly common medical issue, professionals need to change the way they treat infections.

A new study published online in the American Journal Gastroenterology and reported by Medwire News evaluates the correlation between H. pylori infection and reflux esophagitis, including how H. pylori eradication effects reflux esophagitis. The researchers found that there appears a strong negative association between the two.

The Journal of the American Association of Physician Assistants recently published Helicobacter pylori Infection: An update on diagnosis and management; the findings confirm that Urea Breath Testing is still the non-invasive test of choice for diagnosing H. pylori. H pylori, a bacteria that is responsible for a number of medical conditions affecting the gastrointestinal tract, including peptic ulcer and cancer, can be diagnosed with invasive or non-invasive testing.

High salt intake, which is linked to a plethora of medical conditions including hypertension, stroke, and osteoporosis, is now linked to the fourth most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide: stomach cancer. Recent clinical studies have looked at the relationship between H. pylori, salt intake and stomach cancer.

In a recent study, published online in the May Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers looked at NSAID (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) use as a method to prevent gastric cancer in patients with gastric ulcers. The study principally focused on subjects who were H. pylori infected.

The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) advises black men and women with average risk factors to begin screening for colorectal cancer at age 45. Further Studies Needed to Determine Ethnicity-Based Screening Protocol for H. pylori

A recent report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and reported by Healthday found that while gastric cancer has been declining in most groups in the United States, cancer rates in young, white adults is rising......

The availability of several tests for detecting the presence of Helicobacter pylori requires the physician to choose the best testing method. Several studies over the last decades compared a few different modalities including urea breath tests, serology tests (serum IgG and IgA antibodies to H. pylori), and endoscopic biopsy. The data of these studies showed......

A large study, covering nearly 10,000 patients in Germany and published in the Annals of Epidemiology and quoted in Medwire News, revead that alcohol consumed in moderation may facilitate the elimination of Helicobacter pylori. In the study, a significant inverse dose-response relationship was seen between serum GGT levels and H. pylori seropositivity, but only in alcohol drinkers not in abstainers. .......