HOW DO YOU GET HELICOBACTER?

Report #6990; 1/2/97

More than 90% of stomach ulcers are caused by a bacteria called helicobacter. We used to think that you get this germ only by eating polluted food and drinking polluted water, but recent studies show that you can get helicobacter from kissing (7,8).

A study in the most recent issue of the medical journal, Digestive Diseases and Sciences, shows that 84% of people with helicobacter infections in their stomachs have this germ in their saliva, while only 25% of these people have the germ in their stool (1). This confirms other studies (2) shows that kissing a person with ulcers may be more likely to give you stomach ulcers than eating and drinking polluted food and water. Kissing your cat can also give you a stomach ulcer as cats are common sources (3). People in third world countries are even more likely to transmit this germ because helicobacter can be found in their teeth. but not in the teeth of people from countries with rigid health standards (4).

To protect yourself from developing stomach ulcers, check your partner for belching burping, burning in the stomach that gets more severe when the person is hungry and better after eating, a white-coated tongue, a chronic sore throat, and mouth odor. Any person with these symptoms should get a blood test for helicobacter, and if positive, he or she should get an upper GI series X ray to rule out stomach cancer also caused by helicobacter (5,6). The person can be cured by taking three medications for just one week. We can now add helicobacter infections and stomach ulcers to the list of sexually transmitted diseases.

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News