Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert Sapolsky tells about how stress caused ulcers and then does a detour to tell how sometimes it is an infection!
This story is famous among the GE of the world!
GE here stands for Gastroenterologists and not Genius though many may be!
Anytime you have an ulcer you know even your mother would tell you that you have STRESS!
That was the primary hypothesis till this bacteria came along!
No scientist would ever think an infection would cause ulcer! They would immediately tell how the strong acid would kill all the bacteria and no bacterium would ever survive that!
Till a mistake; I am starting to sense a pattern here! A mistake leads to a great discovery! Want more discoveries!? Well; start making more mistakes!
So from the land down under you had Dr Barry Marshall successfully culturing this bacteria over an Easter weekend after ‘mistakenly’ leaving plates in the incubator, a fortuitous mistake that revealed the bacteria’s need for longer, specific growth conditions!
While pathologists had observed spiral bacteria in gastric tissues as early as 1893, it was thought to be contamination!
In 1982, Robin Warren observed the bacteria in gastric biopsies!
Officially then both Barry Marshall and Robin Warren speculated that Helicobacter pylori is the primary cause of stomach ulcers and gastritis!
Of course the GE community was not impressed! They dismissed the whole idea till Marshall made another BRAVE MISTAKE!
Due to skepticism from the medical community, Marshall drank a broth containing H. pylori to prove it caused illness! Many called it a STUPID MIstake! It could have been a GRAVE one for sure!
Then again LUCKILY he developed severe gastritis (vomiting, bad breath) within days!
This confirmed his hypothesis and validating the infectious cause of ulcers
Of course even this was not accepted soon by the GE community till many such reports got reported and an eradication of this Bacteria caused a cessation of ulcers!
It was a victory of persistence!
Now research shows H. pylori has existed in humans for at least 100,000 years, migrating out of Africa with its host, and is present in nearly half the human population, though not always causing disease.H. pylori is now understood to live in the harsh, acidic environment of the stomach by producing the enzyme urease, which neutralizes acid and allows it to colonize the mucus layer!
Their discovery overturned the long-held medical belief that ONLY stress and diet caused ulcers, proving instead they were also infections treatable with antibiotics which earned them the Nobel Prize in 2005.
This is ONE of the SEVERAL cause for your ulcers!
So even if it present it may not cause ulcers since like all infections it is an interplay of agent host and environment!
Then again if you are not well then you can be rest assured you will be taken care of by an amazing nurse!
Like maybe Bai Kashibai Ganpat who was a pioneering figure in Indian healthcare, recognized as the first Indian woman to undergo formal, modern nursing training in 1891!
A big shout out to all the amazing sisters out there!
Shubh ratri…
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