Nobel prize for medicine goes to ulcer pair

Two Australian scientists are celebrating winning the 2005 Nobel prize for medicine.

Robin Warren and colleague Barry Marshall discovered that gastritis and peptic ulcers were caused by a bacterial infection of the gut lining.

Warren said he was "overcome" by the award which he said was given in recognition for the work which he said was "so bloody obvious." Marshall said he did not believe the discovery was going to win the Nobel prize, though he knew it was important.

In 1982 the pair identified the bug Helicobacter pylori as the culprit when the bacteria was found to be present in hundreds of samples of biopsies.

After several attempts, Marshall succeeded in cultivating the previously unknown bacteria from several of these biopsies. Together they found that the organism was present in almost all patients with gastric inflammation, duodenal ulcer or gastric ulcer. While the finding was initially greeted with scepticism, but the pair firmly believed that they had identified the cause of these upper intestinal tract diseases.

When the bacterium was discovered, stress and lifestyle were considered the major causes of peptic ulcer disease, however it is now firmly established that Helicobacter pylori causes more than 90% of duodenal ulcers and up to 80% of gastric ulcers.

Thanks to the pioneering discovery by Marshall and Warren, peptic ulcer disease is no longer a chronic, frequently disabling condition.

The disease that can often be cured by a short regimen of antibiotics and antacid treatment.

(SP/KMcA)