Thursday, 9 June 2016

Helicobacter pylori- Signs and symptoms-Treatment-Epidemiology


Helicobacter pylori

previously Campylobacter pylori, is a gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium found usually in the stomach. It was identified in 1982 by Australian scientists it was present in a person with chronic gastritis and gastric ulcers It is also linked to the development of duodenal ulcers and stomach cancer. However, over 80% of individuals infected with the bacterium are asymptomatic, and it may play an important role in the natural stomach ecology



Signs and symptoms
Acute infection may appear as an acute gastritis with abdominal pain (stomach ache) or nausea Where this develops into chronic gastritis Individuals infected with H. pylori have a 10 to 20% lifetime risk of developing peptic ulcers and a 1 to 2% risk of acquiring stomach cancer Inflammation of the pyloric antrum is more likely to lead to duodenal ulcers

Treatment
The standard first-line therapy is a one-week "triple therapy" consisting of proton pump inhibitors such as omeprazole and the antibiotics clarithromycin and amoxicillin. An increasing number of infected individuals are found to harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria. This results in initial treatment failure and requires additional rounds of antibiotic therapy or alternative strategies, such as a quadruple therapy

Epidemiology
H. pylori is a common type of bacteria that usually infects the stomach. They may be present in more than half of all people in the world, Actual infection rates vary from nation to nation; the developing world has much higher infection rates than the West people infected with it at an early age are likely to develop more intense inflammation that may be followed by atrophic gastritis with a higher subsequent risk of
gastric ulcer, gastric cancer, or both

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