What Causes H Pylori Infections
Its still not known exactly how H. pylori infections spread. The bacteria has coexisted with humans for many thousands of years. The infections are thought to spread from one persons mouth to another, like by kissing.
The bacteria may also be transferred through contact with vomit or stool. This can happen when a person does not wash their hands thoroughly after using the bathroom. H. pylori can also spread through contact with contaminated water or food.
Adaptation Of H Pylori To High Acidity Of Stomach
As mentioned above, H. pylori produce large amounts of urease to produce ammonia as one of its adaptation methods to overcome stomach acidity. Helicobacter pylori arginase, a bimetallic enzyme binuclear Mn2-metalloenzyme arginase, crucial for pathogenesis of the bacterium in human stomach, a member of the ureohydrolase family, catalyzes the conversion of L-arginine to L-ornithine and urea, where ornithine is further converted into polyamines, which are essential for various critical metabolic processes.
This provides acid resistance and is thus important for colonization of the bacterium in the gastric epithelial cells. Arginase of H. pylori also plays a role in evasion of the pathogen from the host immune system mainly by various proposed mechanisms, arginase competes with host-inducible nitric oxide synthase for the common substrate L-arginine, and thus reduces the synthesis of NO, an important component of innate immunity and an effective antimicrobial agent that is able to kill the invading pathogens directly.
Alterations in the availability of L-arginine and its metabolism into polyamines contribute significantly to the dysregulation of the host immune response to H. pylori infection.
H Pylori And Stomach Pain
Stomach Pain: How Is It Caused & What Can You Do About It?
If you have stomach pain, its very important to understand what is causing it. The truth is that many factors could be causing or contributing to your pain.
One thing is for sure, if you want to permanently remove the pain so that you feel better, youre going to need to find the root cause rather than simply taking medications to suppress the symptoms.
Different Types of Stomach Pain
There are many different types of stomach pain. I classify them into the following basic groups:
- Heartburn or an acid feeling in the chest
- Extreme chest pain, often associated with acute H pylori infection
- Stomach cramps
- Dull, chronic lower abdominal pain
- Intense stabbing pain in the lower abdominal area
- Pain that is alleviated by bowel movements or passing wind
All these stomach pain symptoms have causes. The causes are often related to things being in your digestive system that should not be there. They are NOT antacid or painkiller deficiencies.
What can be in your digestive system that shouldnt be there?
Lets examine these three causes of stomach pain in a little detail.
FOOD
Unfortunately our modern diet is full of foods that can irritate the stomach and intestinal lining. Any food that causes inflammation in your gut can cause pain.
I highly recommend that you read The H Pylori Dietfor further information.
MICRO-ORGANISMS
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H Pylori Increases The Risk Of Stomach Cancer Especially A Type Called Non
Some stomach cancer cases in the UK are caused by these bacteria. But, as H. pylori infection has become much less common in the UK, stomach cancer rates have dropped.
In the UK, there are other ways to reduce stomach cancer risk that are likely to have a bigger impact than treating H. pylori. This includes stopping smoking, and eating a healthy, balanced diet, high in foods with lots of fibre, like wholegrains, and low in red and processed meat.
What Are The Complications Of H Pylori
If you are infected with the bacteria you can get a painful sore called a peptic ulcer. These sores form in your upper digestive tract.
A very bad ulcer can wear away your stomach lining. It can also cause problems such as:
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Bleeding when a blood vessel is worn away
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A hole or perforation in your stomach wall
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Blockage when the ulcer is in a spot that blocks food from leaving your stomach
H. pylori can also lead to stomach cancer.
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How Do You Get It
Although it is not known exactly how H. pylori enters the body, researchers believe that the spiral-shaped bacteria probably get into your body through your mouth. Then, they burrow into the mucus that lines your stomach.
You could pick up an H. pylori infection in several ways. The bug can be found in contaminated food or water. If a household member has H. pylori, it is more likely that others in the household also are infected. It has also been found in domesticated animals.
H. pylori is much more common in parts of the world where there’s poor sanitation, poverty, and overcrowding.
Who Is At Risk For H Pylori Infection
You may be at greater risk for H. pylori infection because of:
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Your age. Over half the people in the U.S. with the bacteria are over 50 years old.
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Your race or ethnicity. Almost half of all African Americans have the bacteria. For people who come to the U.S. from developing countries, at least 50% of Latinos and 50% of people from Eastern Europe have H. pylori.
Most people first get the bacteria when they are children, but adults can get it too.
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Natural Remedies For Bacterial Infection In Stomach
Stomach infections are common and can happen anytime in any season. Such infections can severely affect the health of a person. While these go away with time, you can accelerate the recovery by employing natural remedies. Following are the natural cures for how to get rid of the bacterial infection in the stomach that you may adopt.
Drinking Coffee Can Cause A Bowel Movement
Ever finish your morning cup of joe only to find yourself running to the bathroom? If so, it’s not just you. According to the American Chemical Society, coffee has this effect on about 30% of people. It’s not the caffeine. Scientists believe a compound in the drink causes the stomach to make extra gastric acid. That can cause it to dump its contents into the intestines earlier than it normally would. Coffee has also been shown to increase digestive hormones in the intestines, which help move waste along.
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The Most Common Cause Of Food Poisoning In The Us Is:
One in 6 Americans gets sick every year from contaminated food. Norovirus, also called the stomach flu, causes swelling in the stomach and intestines. That leads to pain, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. Some foods — like oysters, fruits, and vegetables — can be contaminated naturally. They can also be tainted by an infected person, like a restaurant cook or server. Harmful bacteria, like E. coli, salmonella, and listeria, are also common sources of food poisoning.
Risk Factors For Bacterial Gastroenteritis
If you have a weakened immune system because of an existing condition or treatment, you may have a higher risk of bacterial gastroenteritis. The risk also increases if you take drugs that decrease your stomachs acidity.
Handling food incorrectly can also raise your risk of bacterial gastroenteritis. Food thats undercooked, stored too long at room temperature, or not reheated well can aid in the spread and survival of bacteria.
Bacteria can produce harmful substances known as toxins. These toxins can remain even after reheating food.
. To find out which type of bacteria is causing your infection, you may be asked to provide a stool sample for analysis.
Your doctor may also take a blood sample to check for dehydration.
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Antibiotic Resistance To H Pylori
Doctors can treat most H. pylori infections successfully treated with antibiotics.
However, research suggests that some H. pylori infections are becoming resistant to certain antibiotics. This means H. pylori is able to survive antibiotic treatment, and the patient may need another drug to kill the bacteria.
A 2015 review found some patients in the United States had H. pylori infections that were resistant to two different antibiotics. A 2014 review found a high number of resistant H. pylori bacteria in Latin American countries.
Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem across the globe. The CDC says that more than
General Considerations For Innate And Adaptive Immunity
Innate immunity.
Innate immunity refers to responses that do not require previous exposure to the immune stimulus and represents the first line of defense in the response to pathogens. A major advance in this field has been the elucidation of the TLRs, which are activated by recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns . Nonspecific activation by stimuli from microorganisms can lead to important antimicrobial effects but can also result in inflammation and injury due to release of inflammatory mediators such as cytokines, reactive oxygen species, and nitric oxide .
Adaptive immunity.
The adaptive immune response is considered a predetermined response to a previously identified immunologic stimulus. Thus, the response is specific to a particular pathogen and involves immunologic memory. However, the lines between adaptive and innate immunity are blurred by the close interactions between pathways, such that stimulation of antigen-presenting macrophages and dendritic cells leads to activation and recruitment of lymphocytes and the development of T-helper -cell-specific responses.
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What Is Gastric Mucosa
Gastric MALT lymphoma is a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is characterized by the slow multiplication of B lymphocytes, a type of immune cell, in the stomach lining. This cancer represents approximately 12 percent of the extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma that occurs among men and approximately 18 percent of extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma among women . During the period 19992003, the annual incidence of gastric MALT lymphoma in the United States was about one case for every 100,000 persons in the population.
Normally, the lining of the stomach lacks lymphoid tissue, but development of this tissue is often stimulated in response to colonization of the lining by H. pylori . Only in rare cases does this tissue give rise to MALT lymphoma. However, nearly all patients with gastric MALT lymphoma show signs of H. pylori infection, and the risk of developing this tumor is more than six times higher in infected people than in uninfected people .
H Pylori Infection Causes
There are no definitive answers regarding H. pylori causes, but a few factors may be connected to outbreaks of the bacteria.
It appears that H. pylori bacteria enter your body through the mouth. This can happen through the transfer of saliva from someone who is already infected to another individual, or through contact with contaminated water or food. The bacteria can also live in feces, so the risk of contamination and infection goes up in areas where sanitary conditions are not very high: developing countries, housing where many people live within a relatively small space, and regions without a reliable supply of drinking water or hot water.
Once the bacterium enters your mouth, it will find its way to your stomach. Once there, it secretes an enzyme called urease, which helps neutralize the acidity of your stomach acid, allowing the bacteria to survive the environment of the stomach long enough to burrow into the stomach lining.
Being entrenched in the stomach lining makes it harder for the bodys natural defenses to attack the bacteria. Most sufferers pick up H. pylori bacteria during their childhoodchildren are less likely to wash their hands thoroughly after using the bathroom or before eatingbut it is not impossible to contract the infection as an adult. That being said, bacteria picked up in childhood may not produce symptoms for a number of years.
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Is There A Role For Probiotics In Treating Ibs
- Given their safety profile, effective probiotics would, at first sight, appear to be more attractive as a means to influence the gut flora in IBS. Are probiotics effective in IBS? There have been several studies of a variety of probiotics in IBS. It is only recently that these have been of the quality needed to come to firm conclusions. There was some early evidence, although inconsistent, of symptom improvement in gas-related symptoms.
- More recently, there has been some evidence of benefit from some probiotic combinations. The best evidence relates to a particular organism, Bifidobacterium infantis 35624. Studies have shown this strain to be superior to placebo in relieving the main symptoms of IBS .
Treatment For H Pylori
If you have ulcers caused by H. pylori, youâll need treatment to kill the germs, heal your stomach lining, and keep the sores from coming back. It usually takes 1 to 2 weeks of treatment to get better.
Your doctor will probably tell you to take a few different types of drugs. The options include:
- Antibiotics to kill the bacteria in your body, such as amoxicillin, clarithromycin , metronidazole , tetracycline , or tinidazole . Youâll most likely take at least two from this group.
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Whats The Association Between H Pylori Infection And Stomach Cancer
If you have an _H. pylori _infection, you have an increased risk for stomach cancer later in life. If you have a strong family history of stomach cancer and other cancer risk factors, even though you may not have symptoms of a stomach ulcer, your healthcare provider may recommend being tested for H. pylori antibodies. In addition to screening and treatment, your provider may suggest some lifestyle changes, such as including more fruits, vegetables and fiber in your diet. Regular checkups with your provider and following their recommendations can reduce your cancer risk.
How Is Helicobacter Pylori Treated
Treatment consists of a one-week course of three different tablets, two of which are antibiotics whilst the third is a tablet to cut down the amount of acid in your stomach. These are all taken together twice a day. Your doctor will ask you whether you are allergic to any particular antibiotics before treatment is started, and if so, an alternative, equally successful treatment can be given.
Most people experience no side-effects from treatment but some notice minor problems such as a strange taste in the mouth, a feeling of sickness, diarrhoea or perhaps a headache. With one particular antibiotic that is often used, you should avoid alcohol. Treatment is much more successful if the whole course of tablets is taken exactly as prescribed and your doctor will encourage you to continue to take the tablets unless the side effects become unpleasant. If you do not complete the course of treatment, not only will the treatment be less successful, but the bacteria may become resistant to the antibiotics, so they will not work if given again. Even when treatment has been successful in clearing the condition, sometimes symptoms take a little while to settle down. If the treatment is shown to be unsuccessful in clearing Helicobacter pylori, it is possible to have further courses of therapy with different antibiotics.
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Genus Description And Phylogeny
The genus Helicobacter belongs to the subdivision of the Proteobacteria, order Campylobacterales, family Helicobacteraceae. This family also includes the genera Wolinella, Flexispira, Sulfurimonas, Thiomicrospira, and Thiovulum. To date, the genus Helicobacter consists of over 20 recognized species, with many species awaiting formal recognition . Members of the genus Helicobacter are all microaerophilic organisms and in most cases are catalase and oxidase positive, and many but not all species are also urease positive.
Helicobacter species can be subdivided into two major lineages, the gastric Helicobacter species and the enterohepatic Helicobacter species. Both groups demonstrate a high level of organ specificity, such that gastric helicobacters in general are unable to colonize the intestine or liver, and vice versa. An extensive review of non-pylori Helicobacter species is available , and here we briefly discuss those Helicobacter species that are either associated with human disease or have relevance for animal models of human Helicobacter infections .
Can H Pylori Spread From Person To Person
Yes, H. pylori can spread from person to person. H. pylori are found in saliva, plaque on teeth and poop. Infection can be spread through kissing and by transferring the bacteria from the hands of those who have not thoroughly washed them after a bowel movement.
Scientists think H. pylori also might be spread through H. pylori-contaminated water and food.
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What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of H Pylori Infections
Many people who get an H. pylori infection dont realize it. Often, these infections dont cause symptoms.
When the bacteria do cause symptoms, they’re usually either symptoms of gastritis or peptic ulcer disease.
In kids, symptoms of gastritis may include:
- nausea
- belly pain
- bloating
In older kids and adults, the most common symptom of peptic ulcers is a lasting or burning belly pain, usually in the area below the ribs and above the navel. This pain often gets worse on an empty stomach and gets better as soon as the person eats food, drinks milk, or takes antacid medicine.
Peptic ulcers that bleed can cause:
- hematemesis : bloody vomit or vomit that looks like coffee grounds
- melena : stool that’s black, bloody, or looks like tar
Stomach And Duodenal Ulcers
H. pylori is the most common cause of duodenal ulcers and stomach . About 3 in 20 people who are infected with H. pylori develop an ulcer. An ulcer occurs where the lining of the stomach or duodenum is damaged by the acid made in the stomach and the underlying tissue is exposed.
In some people H. pylori causes inflammation in the lining of the stomach or duodenum. This is called gastritis and may lead to other conditions such as vitamin B12 deficiency. In gastritis the mucous defence barrier appears to be disrupted in some way . This seems to allow the acid to cause inflammation and ulcers.
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