What is the Helicobacter pylori? | PH value in the stomach

What is the Helicobacter pylori?

Helicobacter pylori is a rod bacterium that can colonize the human stomach and cause gastritis. The bacterium gets along with little oxygen and is very common in developing countries. Worldwide, infection with Helicobacter pylori occurs in 50% of the population.

These bacteria are ingested through the mouth and enter the stomach, where they colonize the mucous membrane and multiply. The bacteria have optimal living conditions in the stomach mucosa, because the mucosa protects the germs from the aggressive stomach acid.The germs release ammonia and live in a cloud of ammonia, which additionally protects them from stomach acid. An acute infection with the bacterium causes vomiting and nausea.

It can also cause symptoms such as heartburn, belching and flatulence. A chronic infection, on the other hand, is in many cases asymptomatic. If symptoms occur, it is often heartburn, stomach pressure after eating, acidic burping or flatulence.

A chronic Helicobacter pylori infection can eventually lead to a (peptic) stomach ulcer. Rarely do the bacteria favour the development of stomach cancer and a lymph gland cancer occurring in the stomach, the MALT lymphoma. A Helicobacter pylori infection can be treated with various drugs.

Usually a “triple therapy” with two different antibiotics and a proton pump inhibitor is carried out over a week. In severe cases a quadruple therapy with a third antibiotic is used.