MANY CAUSES OF STOMACH ULCERS

Report #7020; 2/4/97

All people who have belching and burning in their stomachs and their partners should be treated with antibiotics to kill bacteria that cause stomach ulcers.

More than 90% of stomach and upper intestinal ulcers are caused by a bacteria called helicobacter pylori and such ulcers can be cured by taking a single 7-day course of antibiotics. Some doctors diagnose helicobacter by ordering a blood test, which is dependable, but can miss the other bacteria that also cause stomach ulcers (1). So, a negative blood test for helicobacter does not rule out infection. Some doctors put tubes down the mouth and into the stomach and cut out a piece of the stomach lining to check for the presence of a bacteria. This test also is not completely dependable because bacteria do not colonize the entire stomach, they grow in small areas. Since the doctor usually sees nothing abnormal in the stomach lining, he usually biopsies at random and therefore misses finding the bacteria, even when it is there. Since antibiotics are the only cure for stomach ulcers, the vast majority of people who have belching and burning in the stomach should be given a 7-day course of the antibiotics, clarithromycin and metronidazole, and the ulcer medication called omeperazole. This cures many people, but their symptoms often recur many months later. Recent research shows that helicobacter is in the saliva of most people with stomach ulcers and is transmitted by kissing (2,3,4,5,6,7). so all people and their partners with belching and burning in the stomach should be given a 7-day course of antibiotics to cure their stomach irritation.

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