# Conventional tests missed h pylori 7 out of 19 times



## Talissa (Apr 10, 2004)

"Gut check finds plenty of bacteria"Scientists have discovered that the human stomach - a nasty, highly acidic place - is home to a surprising variety of bacteria, including a close relative of a bug that lives in radioactive waste sites, hot springs and animal poop.In samples from the stomach linings of 23 people, they found at least 128 different types of bacteria, 10 per cent of them previously unknown.*They also found that the mix of bacteria varies greatly from person to person, and that conventional tests for Heliobacter pylori - a germ that causes ulcers, stomach cancer and other gastric distress - failed to identify it in 7 out of 19 people.*The report in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences lends weight to the view that microbes are a vital and intrinsic part of the human body. "We are at a period of time that's very exciting, where we can have a much more transcendent view of ourselves as life forms," said Jeffrey I Gordon, director of the Center for Genome Sciences at the University of Washington in St Louis, who was not involved in the study.In that view, he said, people are "superorganisms" made up of human cells and microbial cells - and the microbes outnumber our own cells 10 to one.The study also overturns conventional wisdom about the stomach. With its strong acids and enzymes for breaking down food, it was thought to be a barren, almost sterile place where no respectable microbe would choose to live.The stomach was considered "an acid waste pit," said Dr David Relman of Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, who was part of the study led by research associate Elisabeth Bik."It would burn you if you stuck your finger in something that strong."He said the discovery of bacteria that cause ulcers, which earned Australian scientists Barry Marshall and Robin Warren this year's Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, did little to change that view because those germs were thought to have unique ways of coping with the stomach's harsh environment.Relman's lab is one of a handful probing the microbial ecosystems of the human body.Scientists have known for years that bacteria in the gut - known as the intestinal microflora - help us digest food. Taking antibiotics can kill off this microbial community and cause digestive misery.More recently they've come to suspect that other parts of the body have their own natural blends of microbes; that throwing this balance off-kilter can cause illness; and that chronic infections could contribute to diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, atherosclerosis, chronic prostate infections and bowel inflammations.In April, a study led by Dr Paul Eckburg of the Relman lab found 395 species of microbes living in the human colon. Most of those bugs were unknown to science. Some cling to the intestinal wall; others hitch rides on bits of undigested food, forming colonies that researchers jokingly called "Whovilles," after those in the Dr Seuss book "Horton Hears a Who!"The lab is now looking at bacterial communities in the mouth, taking samples from the gums, the top and bottom of the tongue, teeth and palate. It's also investigating the role of microbes in Crohn's disease, a chronic bowel inflammation."http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/gut-fe...7864815741.htmlEric posted an article referring to this study as well, but it didn't mention the helicobacter pylori being missed.The original study~PNASMolecular analysis of the bacterial microbiota in the human stomach Published online before print January 4, 2006http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/103/3/732


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