H. pylori or Helicobacter pylori is a type of bacteria which enters a body and live in the digestive tract. They can live in your stomach for years and go unnoticed. They eventually cause ulcers in the inner lining of the stomach or in the small intestines.

It has been recorded in case of some patients that infection of H. pylori has led to stomach cancer.

H. pylori was discovered by scientists in the year 1982, they found that these were the germs that mostly caused stomach ulcers.

The bacteria start attacking the inner lining or the digestive tract of the stomach, weakening it. This lets the acid get through the lining, leading to ulcers.

This further leads to internal bleeding and infections, which keep food from moving into the digestive tract.

An individual gets infected from H. pylori from unclean food, water or utensils. It is common in the countries that lack clean water and proper sewage systems.

People usually get infected with H. pylori in their childhood. The bacteria live in the body for decades and start to show symptoms in the later stages.

Symptoms of H pylori infection

• The most common symptoms of H pylori infection is a dull or burning pain in the belly. The pain may not be persistent as it may come and go. A person suffering from H. pylori will experience maximum pain on an empty stomach. The pain can however last for few minutes to hours.
• Some other common symptoms of H pylori infection may include bloating, burping, loss of appetite, Nausea, vomiting, and weight loss for no reason.
• Ulcers caused by H. pylori will bleed into stomach and intestines. This can be dangerous for the patient’s health. The symptoms of H pylori in this case include: bloody, dark red or black stool. Trouble in breathing, fainting or dizziness, unexplained fatigue, change in skin color (to pale), vomit that looks like vomit that contains blood, and severe stomach pain.
• Though uncommon but, the symptoms of H pylori infection can lead to stomach cancer. The disease may have few symptoms at first such as heartburn etc. Overtime, the person may notice symptoms such as belly pain, nausea, loss of appetite, feeling full even after eating small amount, vomiting, and unexplainable weight loss for no reason.

Diagnosis

• To begin with, the doctor may ask about the patient’s medical history. The doctor may ask about the symptoms that the patient might have experienced from H. pylori infection and the medicines the patient took to suppress the symptoms. A physical exam will follow which will include pressing the belly to check for swelling, tenderness or localized pain. Further tests may include:
• Blood and stool tests which can help find an infection.
• Urea breath test
  For this test, the patient will drink a special liquid that has a substance called urea. The patient will have to breathe in a bag, which will be sent to the lab for testing. If the patient has H. pylori, the bacteria will change the urea in the body to carbon dioxide. The test results from the lab will show that the patient’s breath has higher than normal levels of gas.
• To diagnose if the ulcers are the result of symptoms of H pylori infection, the doctors may use Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. This process involves a small camera called an endoscope, that the doctors will be use to look down the patient’s throat, all the way to the stomach and the upper part of the small intestine. The procedure may also involve collecting a sample, which will be examined for the presence of H. pylori bacteria.
• A diagnosis of H. pylori infection upper GI tests. In this test, a patient will drink a liquid called barium before undergoing an X-ray scan. The liquid will coat the throat and stomach to make them stand out on the image which will help in detecting ulcers.

Treatment

• In case of ulcers caused by H. pylori, the patient will have to undergo treatment that involves killing the bacteria, healing the stomach lining, and keeps the sores from coming back. It usually takes a week or two treat the ulcers due to H. pylori infection.
• The doctor will prescribe a couple of antibiotics that will kill the H. pylori bacteria in the body.
• They might also provide medications that will reduce the amount of acid in the stomach by blocking tiny pumps that produce it.
• The treatment to cure the symptoms of H pylori infection could contain 14 or more pills per day for a few weeks. It is really important that the patient takes medicines that are only prescribed by the doctor and follow their instructions.
• Not taking antibiotics in a timely manner will make the bacteria resistant to it, making the infection harder to treat.

It is advised that the patient should talk to the doctor about handling the side effects (if any) due to medications that are being taken for treating the infection of H. pylori. About 1 to 2 weeks after finishing the treatment, the doctor would test the breath or stool again in order to make sure that the infection is gone.