While it is commonly known today that gastric ulcers are usually caused by an infection from a specific type of bacteria, less is known about the scientist who helped discover it, and his unorthodox quest to prove it.
Back in 1982, when Professor Barry Marshall was a trainee doctor at the Royal Perth Hospital in Australia, he learnt that Dr Robin Warren, a pathologist there, had found that biopsy samples from patients with gastric ulcers contained traces of a spiral-shaped bacterium known as Helicobacter pylori.
“At that time, the discovery was unprecedented, given that gastric ulcers had in the past been associated with stress or lifestyle choices, and were thought to be a chronic disease,” Prof Marshall told The Straits Times in an interview over Zoom last Tuesday.
Prof Marshall is one of the 21 scientists and Nobel laureates attending the Global Young Scientists Summit, hosted by the National Research Foundation, this week.
In addition, it was thought to be impossible for bacteria to survive in the inhospitable lining of the stomach, given that stomach acid has a pH of 1.5, making it about 10 to 20 times more acidic than lemon juice.
Intrigued, Prof Marshall was determined to find out if the bacterium was significant in causing gastric ulcers, and decided to join Dr Warren on his research.
Together, they conducted a study of biopsies from 100 patients.
This story is from the January 17, 2022 edition of The Straits Times.
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This story is from the January 17, 2022 edition of The Straits Times.
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