What is Helicobacter Pylori and how common is infection from it?
Helicobacter pylori, also known as H. pylori, is the most common chronic bacterial infection in humans. Conservative estimates indicate that the bacteria is present in the stomach in approximately one-half of the world’s population. Surprisingly, the importance of H. pylori was not appreciated until 1982. Later, a researcher dramatically demonstrated that the bacteria were able to cause stomach problems after he voluntarily swallowed them. Despite this dramatic demonstration, a wealth of information has shown that the vast majority of people infected with H. pylori infection have no symptoms and will never develop symptoms. However, H. pylori is capable of causing a number of gastrointestinal disorders, including ulcers, and, much less commonly, stomach cancer. Why some people get these conditions and others do not is an area of intense research, although much has already been learned. HOW COMMON IS H. PYLORI INFECTION? There is a great deal of geographic variability in the percent of
