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Page Contents:
1. What is Helicobacter pylori?
2. Symptoms of H.pylori infection
3. When to get immediate medical attention?
4. Does H. pylori cause cancer or other diseases?
5. How are H. pylori infections diagnosed?
6. How is H. pylori treated?
7. Sources and references
Infection with H. pylori is common. About two-thirds of the world’s population has it in their bodies. For most people, it never causes any symptoms. But it’s the most common cause of peptic ulcers, which are painful open sores in your digestive tract. In rare cases, it could even lead to stomach cancer.
 
Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a type of bacteria that infects your stomach. It can cause sores and inflammation in the lining of your stomach or the upper part of your small intestine.

symptoms of H. pylori infection

Most children with H. pylori infection don’t have symptoms. Only about 20% do.
 
Symptoms and signs, if present, are those that arise from gastritis or peptic ulcer and include:
 
*Dull or burning pain in your stomach (more often a few hours after eating and at night). Your pain may last minutes to hours and may come and go over several days to weeks.
*Unplanned weight loss.
*Bloating.
*Nausea and vomiting (bloody vomit).
*Indigestion (dyspepsia).
*Burping.
*Loss of appetite.
*Dark stools (from blood in your stool).

When to get immediate medical attention

You should get medical attention right away if you experience:
 
*trouble swallowing
*anemia
*blood in the stool
*black-colored stool
*vomit
 
If you have these symptoms or part of them, you should contact a specialist doctor to diagnose and treat the condition early.

Does H. pylori cause cancer or other diseases?

Yes. Although H. pylori infection does not itself cause illness, chronic infection causes long-lasting inflammation in the stomach (called non-atrophic gastritis) in most people. This inflammation can lead to several possible conditions, including atrophic gastritis (thinning of the stomach lining caused by long-term inflammation) and certain types of stomach (gastric) cancer, particularly gastric adenocarcinoma and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, which is a rare type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

How are H. pylori infections diagnosed?

If you have symptoms of a digestive condition, you may need to get tested for H. pylori. There are several ways to diagnose an H. pylori infection, including:
 
*urea breath test to check for abnormal carbon dioxide levels, a sign of an H. pylori infection
*stool test to check for H. pylori antigens
*blood tests to check for H. pylori antibodies
 
A healthcare professional may also recommend an endoscopy if the results of the other tests are inconclusive. This allows them to look at your esophagus, stomach lining, and a portion of your small intestine.

How is H. pylori treated?

If you don’t have symptoms, you don’t need to be treated. If you’ve been diagnosed with H. pylori, avoid taking nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These drugs can increase your risk of developing an ulcer.
 
H. pylori-caused ulcers are treated with a combination of antibiotics and an acid-reducing proton pump inhibitor.
 
*Antibiotics: Usually two antibiotics are prescribed. Among the common choices are amoxicillin, clarithromycin, metronidazole and tetracycline.
*Proton pump inhibitor: Commonly used proton pump inhibitors include lansoprazole, omeprazole, pantoprazole, rabeprazole or esomeprazole.
*Bismuth subsalicylate: Sometimes this drug is added to the antibiotics plus proton pump inhibitor combinations mentioned above. This drug protects the stomach lining.

Combination treatment is usually taken for 14 days.
Sources and references
 
https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/h-pylori-helicobacter-pylori
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21463-h-pylori-infection
https://www.healthline.com/health/helicobacter-pylori#symptoms
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/infectious-agents/h-pylori-fact-sheet#does-h-pylori-cause-cancer-or-other-diseases
Estecharat/2MDOpinion

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