A Brief Note On Helicobacter Pylori

- H. pylori has 4 to 6 "lophotrichous flagella" which are its favor in motility. Usually, the

Bacteria are ubiquitous; they can be found on the skin, in the soil, and inside the body. Because of the very nature of this ubiquity, it is important to be able to determine between different strains of bacteria. An example of this is determining the causative agent for a disease so that the patient will be treated with the appropriate antibiotics. It may be important to determine the bacteria in a certain region, because like with enteric bacteria, it is normal to find them in the digestive tract as they are in a symbiotic relationship with our bodies in this area; however, they also cause opportunistic infections in places outside of the digestive tract to our detriment, such as with a urinary tract infection. Some strains of bacteria are common to nosocomial infections, and identifying these bacteria as such helps create the guidelines for healthcare workers in antiseptic technique. All of the morphology and characteristics of each strain of bacteria help us to better understand the role of bacteria in the body as well as helps us understand how they can cause illness, and what treatment regimen to set in place. In lab this semester, a sample of unknown

patient tested positive for H. pylori and wakes up at night due to cramping pain with bloating, so it is assumed to be peptic ulcer and the status of his condition is uncontrolled. Her symptoms were not improved with over the counter medication, Tums. Therefore, it is not GRED. However, Patient does not need a referral for endoscopy this time around because she does not hat the symptoms vomiting, nausea or dizziness.

H. pylori thrives in the acidic environment of the stomach and the finding that this bacteria contributed to the condition was remarkable news and led to the standard practice of treating peptic ulcers with antibiotics. As a result, the rate of H. pylori-induced ulcers has dropped by more than 50 percent. (Ackerman, 2012)

On an episode of Robyn William’s hosted ABC radio national show, The Science Show, fellow presenter Dr. Chris Smith introduces guest speaker Barry Marshall to enlighten the audience about his new interesting research with long time colleague Dr. Robin Warren. In the interview, which took place on the 30th October 2010, Dr. Marshall speaks about how he and Dr. Warren have invested their effort to find new ways of developing vaccinations for sick patients battling stomach-relating diseases. The common notion that stress, smoking, alcohol and the consumption of spicy foods were the main reason for stomach ulcers, Dr. Marshall and Dr. Warren discovered that stomach ulcers were primarily caused by a stomach infection called Helicobacter Pylori.

The history of Helicobacter pylori goes back to 1875 when German scientists found the spiral shaped bacteria in the stomach linings of patients (“Helicobacter Pylori,” Wikipedia). However, Helicobacter pylori, also known as H. pylori, was officially discovered in 1982 by Barry Marshall and Robin Warren when they ended up leaving petri dishes incubating over Easter weekend (“Helicobacter pylori,” Wikipedia). After returning to the petri dishes after five days they discovered they had unintentionally successfully cultured the bacteria and were finally able to visualize it (“Helicobacter pylori,” Wikipedia). Until 1989, Helicobacter pylori was called Campylobacter pylori (“Helicobacter pylori,” Wikipedia). However further research done in 1989

Since then, H. pylori has been almost completely eradicated in western countries, being placed onto the endangered species list. Unfortunately in developing countries, gastric and duodenal ulcers remain huge problems. The lack of access to antibiotics and the emergence of antibacterial resistant strains have greatly hindered efforts to cure the diseases. The controversy is not over, however, as 80% of people infected with H. pylori never develop any gastrointestinal diseases. We need to thoroughly research the bacterium and exactly how it works in order to fully understand the role of H. pylori in stomach diseases. With that information, we will have the means to combat the diseases caused by the bacterium and the lack of the

The gram-negative bacilli were first discovered and described by Theodor Escherich, a German pediatrician in 1885. Originally named as Bacterium coli commune, the name was changed to Escherichia coli (E.coli) (Stanford T. Shulman et al., 2007). E.coli is known as the most free-living organism being studied. More than 700 E.coli serotypes have been discovered. Their “O” antigen (somatic), and “H” antigen (flagellar) and “K” antigen (capsular) distinguish the different E.coli serotypes. E.coli is commensal bacterial species of the mammalian colon. The bacterium typically colonizes the gastrointestinal tract of an infant within a few hours of life. It is known that E.coli and its human host-derived a mutual benefit that they coexist in good health. Most of E.coli strains are harmless except in immunocompromised hosts, or when gastrointestinal barriers are violated that even non-pathogenic strains can cause disease. Nevertheless, there are certain serotypes that may cause disease in humans and animals. Pathogenic E.coli can be divided into six recognized diarrheagenic categories: enteropathogenic E.coli (EPEC), Shiga toxin-producing E.coli (STEC), enterotoxigenic E.coli (ETEC), enteroaggregative E.coli (EAEC), enteroinvasive E.coli (EIEC) and diffusely adherent E.coli (DAEC) (James B. Kaper et al., 2004). E.coli caused a major health problem in developing countries such as China and Korea. It has been found to be associated with most gastrointestinal diseases in

Helicobacter pylori is an important human pathogen that chronically infects the gastric and duodenal mucosa (1). It affects approximately 50% of the population worldwide, and is associated with multiple gastric pathologies, including gastritis, peptic ulcer disease (PUD), gastric cancer (GC) and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma (2). While the majority of individuals infected with H. pylori are asymptomatic, essentially all develop chronic inflammation (3). Among infected individuals, approximately 10% develop PUD, 1-3% progresses to GC and 0.1% develop MALT lymphoma (3). Clinical outcomes of long-term infection vary, as disease severity is thought to be related to a combination of host genetics, environmental factors, and genetic heterogeneity of H. pylori (2). Helicobacter pylori exhibits a much greater genetic diversity than most bacteria, and this is often attributed to the differences in prevalence and expression of bacterial virulence factors that may impact the outcome of gastric disease (4). Several virulence genes related to the risk of gastric disease have been identified, including cagA, cagE, vacA, iceA, and babA2 (2). A large number of studies have shown that VacA producing H. pylori strains are related to more severe clinical outcomes, although the genetic mechanism(s) underlying this observed associations is not yet

Campylobacter jejuni is a species of bacteria from the genus Campylobacter, and one of the most frequent causes of bacterial infections worldwide. The genome sequence of C. jejuni is 1,641,481bp (Parkhill et al, 2000). C. jejuni is the most common cause of food poisoning. Despite its strong pathogenicity with gastroenteritis (Kim et al, 2015), C. jejuni is rarely life threatening but is linked with the development of Guillain-barre syndrome (Perez-Perez & Blaser, 1996).

Before knowing that the Helicobacter Pylori bacteria caused ulcers, people believed ulcers were known to be caused from stress. They refused to believe it was caused from anything else because they believed that no bacteria could thrive in the highly acidic environment of the stomach. There are links going back to 1940 by Dr. A. Stone Freedberg, who was a cardiologist at Harvard, but his boss pressured him to abandon his research and he favored him to do research in something that would be “easier to prove”. Many scientists gave up on this research is due to the overwhelming opposition from the wider scientific community.

Its name is Helicobacter Pylori. You are not liable to have heard that name before on the grounds that even experts think that it’s hard to distinguish H. Pylori without legitimate remedial examinations. The microorganisms are what you would rightly call a tricky asymptomatic living being that lives in the intestines.

Campylobacter jejuni is a species of bacteria from the genus Campylobacter, and one of the most frequent causes of bacterial infections worldwide. The genome sequence of C. jejuni is 1,641,481bp (Parkhill et al, 2000). C. jejuni is the most common cause of food poisoning. Despite its strong pathogenicity with gastroenteritis (Kim et al, 2015), C. jejuni is rarely life threatening but is linked with the development of Guillain-barre syndrome (Perez-Perez & Blaser, 1996).

In the early 20th century ulcers were believed to be caused my dietary and stress factors. If someone was diagnosed with an ulcer they were hospitalized and put on a bland food diet. Then later on in the 20th century gastric acid was blamed for causing ulcers. So then treatment changed to antacids and medication that stopped gastric acid. In 1982 Robin Warren and Barry Marshall identified that Helicobacter pylori and ulcers were connected to each other. People did not accept their findings. People still believed it was stress, diet, or gastric acid that caused the ulcers. Many years later in 1994, A National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference concluded that Helicobacter pylori was strongly related to ulcers and that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori could be treated with antibiotics. Then, a year later in 1995 data showed that 75% of

The bacteria, Flavobacterium Capsulatum, can be broken into its taxonomy, which can further explain what type of microbe the bacterium is. The bacterium, Flavobacterium Capsulatum, is characterized into the phylum bacteroidetes, as an aerobic bacillus. An aerobic bacillus are rod shaped cells that contain a capsule and do require oxygen to perform metabolic processes and to grow, thus oxygen will increase rate of production. Furthermore, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada, such phylum of bacteria are generally bile resistant, found in the intestinal tracts of humans and other animals, are