|
Reproduced
from the archives of the
Department
of Health and Human Services
Center
for Disease Control and Prevention
Helicobacter
pylori and Peptic Ulcer Disease
History
of Ulcer Diagnosis and Treatment
The road to a
cure for ulcers has been a long and bumpy one. Recent news that ulcers
are caused by a bacterium and can be cured with antibiotics has changed
traditional thinking. Physicians and consumers have not been informed of
the good news.
Early
20th Century
Ulcers are believed
to be caused by stress and dietary factors. Treatment focuses on hospitalization,
bed rest, and prescription of special bland foods. Later, gastric acid
is blamed for ulcer disease. Antacids and medications that block acid production
become the standard of therapy. Despite this treatment, there is a high
recurrence of ulcers.
1982
Australian physicians
Robin Warren and Barry Marshall first identify the link between Helicobacter
pylori (H. pylori) and ulcers, concluding that the bacterium, not stress
or diet, causes ulcers. The medical community is slow to accept their findings.
1994
A National Institutes
of Health Consensus Development Conference concludes that there is a strong
association between H. pylori and ulcer disease, and recommends that ulcer
patients with H. pylori infection be treated with antibiotics.
1995
Data show that about
75 percent of ulcer patients are still treated primarily with antisecretory
medications, and only 5 percent receive antibiotic therapy. Consumer research
by the American Digestive Health Foundation finds that nearly 90 percent
of ulcer sufferers are unaware that H. pylori causes ulcers. In fact, nearly
90 percent of those with ulcers blame their ulcers on stress or worry,
and 60 percent point to diet.
1996
The Food and Drug
Administration approves the first antibiotic for treatment of ulcer disease.
1997
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), with other government agencies, academic
institutions, and industry, launches a national education campaign to inform
health care providers and consumers about the link between H. pylori and
ulcers. This campaign reinforces the news that ulcers are a curable infection,
and the fact that health can be greatly improved and money saved by disseminating
information about H. pylori. Medical researchers sequence the H. pylori
genome. This discovery can help scientists better understand the bacterium
and design more effective drugs to fight it.
References:
1.
Munnangi S. and Sonnenberg A. Time Trends of Physician Visits and Treatment
Patterns of Peptic Ulcer Disease in the United States. Arch Intern Med.
vol. 175, July 14, 1997. pp 1489-94.
2. Helicobacter pylori in Peptic Ulcer Disease, National Institutes of
Health Consensus Development Panel on Helicobacter pylori in Peptic Ulcer
Disease, Journal of the American Medical Association. Volume 272, no. 1.
July 6, 1994, pp 65-69. |
