The Earthtimes online News
Home

Australian duo wins Nobel Prize for proving stomach ulcers' bacterial connection

In 1984, when Dr Barry Marshall drank a culture of bacteria to prove to his colleagues that it was bacteria and not stress that was the main cause of stomach ulcers, little did he know that his conviction would win him a Nobel Prize for medicine 20 years later.
Posted : Tue, 04 Oct 2005 21:06:00 GMT
Author : Roland Waite
Category : Health
News Alerts by Email ( click here )
Create your own RSS
Health News | Home
In 1984, when Dr Barry Marshall drank a culture of bacteria to prove to his colleagues that it was bacteria and not stress that was the main cause of stomach ulcers, little did he know that his conviction would win him a Nobel Prize for medicine 20 years later.

Marshall, a University of Western Australia researcher who shares the prize with Dr Robin Warren, said this win vindicated their stand that it was the bacterium Helicobacter pylori that was behind the peptic ulcer disease.

“Thanks to the pioneering discovery by Marshall and Warren, peptic ulcer disease is no longer a chronic, frequently disabling condition, but a disease that can be cured by a short regimen of antibiotics and acid secretion inhibitors,” said the Nobel Assembly of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

“It is nice to be officially recognized and it gives some sort of a stamp of approval, but we believed it within a few months because it was so bloody obvious,” said Warren after the prize was announced. While 54-year-old Marshall is a researcher at the University of Western Australia in Nedlands, 68-year-old Warren is now a retired pathologist from the Royal Perth Hospital.

The discovery was made in 1982, a year after Marshall and Warren teamed up to work on the theory. Warren, who was then a pathologist conducting gastric biopsies, found curved rod-shaped bacteria in some samples of inflamed, ulcerated tissue. He then teamed up with Marshall, who was then a trainee of internal medicine, to study the observation further.

At the time they made this discovery, the widespread belief was that strong gastric juices did not allow anything to grow inside the stomach. “So everybody believed there were no bacteria in the stomach. ... When I said they were there, no one believed it,” said Warren.

“After about three years, we were pretty convinced that these bacteria were important in ulcers, and it was a frustrating time for the next 10 years though because nobody believed us,” Marshall said, adding, “The idea of stress and things like that was just so entrenched, nobody could really believe that it was bacteria. It had to come from some weird place like Perth, Western Australia, because I think nobody else would have even considered it.”

After drinking the culture of the bacteria, Dr Marshall developed a stomach infection, but as a healthy youngster, he didn't develop peptic ulcers. “I didn't actually develop an ulcer, but I did prove that a healthy person could be infected by these bacteria, and that was an advance because the skeptics were saying that people with ulcers somehow had a weakened immune system and that the bacteria were infecting them after the event,” he said.

With the Nobel Prize, the duo will receive a cash reward of US$ 1.3 million, a diploma, and a gold medal at the award ceremony that will be held in Stockholm on December 10.

Copyright, respective author or news agency



Article : Australian duo wins Nobel Prize for proving stomach ulcers' bacterial connection
Print this article
Email this article

Stay Updated
News gadget on your Google homepage
Subscribe to a news feed in Google Reader

Share on

Have your Say
Name
Email
Subject
Your Comment

Enter Verification code
 
  

 

 

More Health News click here

Choose Theme
Green Earth Blue Earth Orange Earth Purple Earth

Search
 
You can
Print this articleemail this articleComment on this article

Current News

News Category
Business
Entertainment
Environment
General
Health
Sports
Technology
World
Press Release
Add to Google Toolbar
Breaking News
Press Releases
Related Links
- The Nobel Foundation
- The University of Western Australia
- Helicobacter pylori and Peptic Ulcer Disease
- H. pylori and Peptic Ulcer

About us | News Archives | Browse old Archive | Feedback | Disclaimer | Mobile/PDA | News Alerts

The views expressed in the articles are not necessarily those of earthtimes.org and we accept no responsibility for the views or opinions
expressed in the articles either direct or indirect.

© 2008 www.earthtimes.org, The Earth Times, All Rights Reserved | Privacy Policy