Nobel Prize to Aussies

[Guest guest]

This is such great good news- The 2 guys responsible for finding the bacteria

responsible

for gastric ulcers are getting the Nobel Prize for forging on in the face of the

medical

establishment, and sticking to their guns!

It was in the New York Time Science page yesterday.

You may or may not remember that it was a pure psychological diagnosis

previously, I

guess because stress can make it worse.

It only took 20 years . THERE IS HOPE!!!!!

__________________________________________________

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/science/04nobe.html

Two Win Nobel Prize for Discovering Bacterium Tied to Stomach Ailments

By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN

Published: October 4, 2005

Two Australian scientists who upset medical dogma by discovering a bacterium

that

causes stomach inflammation, ulcers and cancer won the 2005 Nobel Prize for

Physiology

or Medicine yesterday.

The winners were Dr. Barry J. Marshall, 54, a gastroenterologist from the

University of

Western Australia in Nedlands, and Dr. J. Robin Warren, 68, a retired

pathologist from the

Royal Perth Hospital.

The findings by the Australians in the early 1980's went so against medical

thinking, which

held that psychological stress caused stomach and duodenal ulcers, that it took

many

more years for an entrenched medical profession to accept it.

In its citation, the Nobel committee from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm

said that

Dr. Marshall and Dr. Warren " made an irrefutable case that the bacterium

Helicobacter

pylori " causes ulcers and other diseases.

" It is now firmly established that H. pylori causes more than 90 percent of

duodenal ulcers

and up to 80 percent of gastric ulcers, " the Nobel committee said.

In the wake of the ulcer discovery, many scientists have been seeking unknown

infectious

agents as the cause of many chronic diseases. Examples include microbes that

might

produce atherosclerosis, the underlying basis of coronary artery disease;

ulcerative colitis;

regional enteritis (Crohn's disease); and rheumatoid arthritis.

A famous experiment Dr. Marshall conducted on himself was crucial in linking the

bacterium to inflammation of the stomach, or gastritis, and showing that it

resulted from

an infection.

When the two began their research, doctors could heal ulcers with drugs that

blocked the

production of gastric acid, believing stomach acid caused ulcers. But the ulcers

often

relapsed because the bacteria remained to perpetuate the inflammation that leads

to

ulcers and to certain cancers.

Ulcers at that time were often a chronic, debilitating disease that required

major surgery

and that could cause life-threatening complications from bleeding. Also, they

would often

erode through the stomach and lead to peritonitis.

After Dr. Marshall and Dr. Warren discovered the role of the spiral-shaped H.

pylori

bacterium, they and others conducted trials showing that antibiotics and drugs

inhibiting

the production of stomach acid could cure gastritis and most stomach and

duodenal

ulcers.

The inflammation produced by H. pylori can also lead to certain stomach cancers

that

seem to be prevented by antibiotic treatment of the bacterium. In the early

1900's,

stomach cancer was a leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. But

its

incidence fell significantly, for unknown reasons, before the discovery of H.

pylori's role.

Stomach cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.

H. pylori is also an important player in a type of lymphoma cancer of the

stomach known

as MALT, for mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue. Such lymphomas usually regress

when

antibiotics rid the stomach of H. pylori. Since the late 1800's, many doctors

had noted the

bacterium's presence in the stomachs of patients with ulcers and gastritis, but

they

ignored the connection.

In the early 1980's, Dr. Warren noted the bacterium in the lower part of the

stomach in

about half of the patients who had biopsies. He made a crucial observation that

signs of

inflammation were always present in the surface lining of the stomach near where

he

observed the bacterium.

Dr. Marshall joined Dr. Warren in studying biopsies from a series of patients.

After several

attempts, Dr. Marshall succeeded in growing a bacterium that was unknown then;

he

named it Campylobacter pyloridis, believing that it was a member of the

Campylobacter

family. (It was later found to be a member of the Helicobacter family and

renamed H.

pylori.)

Still, many doctors were unconvinced by the findings, a point recognized by the

Nobel

committee, which said the award went to Dr. Marshall and Dr. Warren " who with

tenacity

and a prepared mind challenged prevailing dogmas. "

Dr. Marshall carried on a medical tradition in experimenting on himself to test

his and Dr.

Warren's theory and to show that Helicobacter was the primary cause of

gastritis, not a

secondary invader.

In earlier interviews, Dr. Marshall described how at age 32, he swallowed a

gastroscope

tube to allow another doctor to look at his stomach and take several biopsies.

These

procedures and examinations were needed to document that Dr. Marshall had no H.

pylori

in his stomach and did not suffer from gastritis or another abnormality.

Dr. Marshall waited 10 days for the areas that had been biopsied to heal and

then

swallowed a pure culture of H. pylori. A week later, he had an unusual sensation

of

fullness after eating supper and felt ill. Friends told him that his breath was

" putrid. "

-----------------------------

continued, but i am out of time---cheers!

[Guest guest]

This is such great good news- The 2 guys responsible for finding the

bacteria responsible

for gastric ulcers are getting the Nobel Prize for forging on in the face of

the medical

establishment, and sticking to their guns!

I honestly believe Dr. Shoemaker will be receiving it someday!!!! Thank God

for Drs. that fight for what they believe in and stick to their guns!