A brief history of the discovery of helicobacter pylori

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) has infected humans in Africa since the early Stone Age. Prior to the twentieth century, the majority of the world’s population was infected with the bacterium. Around the globe many researchers came close to discovering H. pylori and its role in gastric disease, and in Japan there were two strong areas of enquiry. The first was the study of “spirochaetes” in the stomach of mammals by Kasai and Kobayashi. The second was the work by Kimura and Takemoto on the histology of the gastric mucosa. Nearby in China, no specific pathogen was identified, but ulcer treatment with the antibiotic furazolidone was successfully trialled, and Dr. Yao Shi from Shanghai almost discovered H. pylori through electron microscopy studies. In Australia, in the 1980s Robin Warren and myself were able to make comparisons between healthy and unhealthy stomachs and show the striking correlation between gastritis and presence of the spiral bacterium. After drinking cultures derived from a patient, I was able to fulfil Koch’s postulates for H. pylori and gastritis. The rationale for future treatments via antibiotic-based eradication therapy was in place.