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Curing Stomach Bug Crucial To Prevent Cancer

Posting Date: 10/03/2001

Americans spend billions on their bellyaches. Last year alone we shelled out almost $8 billion for just two of the most popular prescription acid suppressing drugs -- Prilosec and Prevacid. Others, Nexium, Aciphex and Protonix, are rapidly gaining in popularity.

That doesn't even count antacids such as Maalox, Mylanta or Rolaids. People also use drugs that once were prescription only but now are available over the counter as Tagamet HB, Zantac 75, Pepcid AC and Axid AR.

All these products are effective at relieving the discomfort of heartburn, but they can't cure gastritis or ulcers caused by Helicobacter pylori.

There is growing recognition that this germ is responsible for a great deal of stomach upset, even cancer. Treating symptoms without curing the underlying infection could be counterproductive.

When Australian gastroenterologist Dr. Barry Marshall first linked H. pylori to stomach ulcers in the early 1980s, his colleagues were skeptical. The prevailing perspective then was that ulcers were caused by stress and genetic factors. It was believed that excess acid production irritated the stomach lining, causing ulcers.

Treatment followed the "no acid, no ulcer" principle. Antacids were prescribed to neutralize excess stomach acid, and when Tagamet and Zantac appeared, they became treatments of choice.

Old ideas die hard. Acid is still seen as the enemy and physicians prescribe huge quantities of acid suppressors like Prilosec and Prevacid.

But Dr. Marshall and other gastroenterologists have now proved unequivocally that if the bacterial infection causing an ulcer is eliminated, digestive distress disappears.

For people with chronic discomfort, eradication of the bacteria can make a huge difference, as it did for this reader: "I suffered from severe stomach trouble for 50 years until my doctor checked recently for H. pylori bacteria. When I tested positive he gave me antibiotics which killed the bacteria within two weeks. For the first time I can remember I am free of continuous heartburn and belching. People with chronic complaints like mine need to be tested instead of popping heartburn medicine like it was candy."