2022 "Pharmacy Popular Science Works" Essay Exhibition | Beware of the "Assassin" of Stomach Disease - Helicobacter pylori

Are you troubled by bad breath and frequent indigestion? If so, it is recommended that you go to the hospital for a check-up, because you are likely infected with Helicobacter pylori! As a typical "disease from the mouth" bacteria, Helicobacter pylori will sneak into your stomach like a silent assassin.

Helicobacter pylori self-report

"I am Helicobacter pylori, or Hp for short, a Gram-negative bacillus."

"I was discovered by Australian scientist Marshall in 1982. Through his unremitting efforts, he confirmed that infection with me can cause gastric diseases such as gastritis, gastric ulcers and duodenal ulcers, and he won the Nobel Prize for this."

"I have a soft spot for humans! They are my only natural hosts."

"According to surveys, about 50% of people in the world have me in their stomachs, and I am closely related to the occurrence of gastric cancer. Now I have been listed as a Class I biological carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO)."

How is Helicobacter pylori spread?

Helicobacter pylori is mainly transmitted through direct or indirect contact between people. The following behaviors may cause infection with Helicobacter pylori:

1. Using dirty tableware

Helicobacter pylori can be transmitted from mouth to mouth, so if the tableware used by a patient infected with Helicobacter pylori is not disinfected and cleaned thoroughly, the next person who uses the tableware is likely to be infected.

2. Kissing

If one party is infected with Helicobacter pylori, the bacteria will be transmitted to the other party through saliva during kissing, which is also considered oral-oral transmission.

3. Dinner

When one person is infected with Helicobacter pylori during a dinner party, Helicobacter pylori may be spread to others if serving chopsticks are not used.

4. Eat raw food

Helicobacter pylori can contaminate water sources through feces, and raw food that is not cooked well is likely to be contaminated, making it easy to get infected after eating. This is a form of "fecal-oral transmission."

5. Love spicy food

Eating spicy food can irritate the gastric mucosa and reduce its resistance, thereby increasing the risk of Helicobacter pylori invasion.

6. Endoscopic transmission

When patients undergo gastroscopy, Helicobacter pylori may attach to the examination instrument. If the instrument is not thoroughly cleaned, it is likely to become a source of infection for Helicobacter pylori.

What are the symptoms of Helicobacter pylori infection?

The main symptoms include abdominal distension and pain, bad breath, indigestion, hunger, drooling, etc.

How should Helicobacter pylori infection be treated?

At present, the more common methods to eradicate Helicobacter pylori are triple therapy and quadruple therapy. Triple therapy is a proton pump inhibitor, such as omeprazole, pantoprazole, lansoprazole, and two antibiotics, including amoxicillin, clarithromycin, metronidazole, levofloxacin, furazolidone, and tetracycline. Quadruple therapy is to add a bismuth agent to the triple therapy, such as potassium bismuth citrate, colloidal bismuth pectin, etc. The method of taking is: take proton pump inhibitors and bismuth before meals, and take antibiotics after meals. The course of treatment is 14 days.

After Helicobacter pylori is eradicated, if your daily lifestyle is unhealthy, it is likely to recur. Therefore, we should do the following in our daily lives:

1. Eat more vegetables and fruits and less junk food;

2. Drink less strong alcohol and don’t smoke;

3. Avoid overeating, irregular meals, and eating too fast;

4. Be cheerful, optimistic and don’t hold grudges.

Author: Li Wanlu, Second People's Hospital of Zhengzhou City, Henan Province

Reviewed by: Liu Guiyang, Chief Pharmacist of the Pharmacy and Pharmacology Department of the Fourth Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital

This article won the Outstanding Work in the Writing Category