What Bacteria Causes Ulcers in the Stomach?
Helicobacter Pylori Most stomach ulcers, also known as peptic ulcers, are caused not by stress as many have assumed for years, but by a bacteria called Helicobacter Pylori. H. Pylori has been found in 95 percent of people with gastric ulcers and in 100 percent of people with chronic gastritis. The people most at risk for an infection and subsequent ulceration are the elderly or people living in third world countries who were probably first infected as children. The organism itself does not cause ulcers to form but it secretes ammonia which neutralizes the acid inside the stomach, thereby allowing the bacteria to colonize that region and grow to a point where damage to the tissue occurs. Not everyone who is infected by H. Pylori actually develops ulcers. Destroyed by Antibiotics H. Pylori is shaped like a corkscrew and has moving appendages. This bacteria is able to survive the caustic environment of the stomach by hiding in the mucus lining of the organ where it reproduces itself many
