Article: Common bacteria causing millions of cases of stomach cancer globally (H.pylori)

[Sly Saint]

A common bacteria is fuelling millions of cases of stomach cancer worldwide – but screening may turn the tide, experts have said.

Scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) – part of the World Health Organisation – project that, if nothing is done, around 15.6 million people across the globe born between 2008 and 2017 will be diagnosed with stomach (gastric) cancer in their lifetime.

Of these cases, some 11.9 million (76%) will be due to infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori).

While the vast majority of new cases will be in Asia (particularly India and China), some two million could occur in the Americas, 1.7 million in Africa and 1.2 million in Europe.

H. pylori is a bacteria that infects the lining of the stomach and is thought to be spread from person to person and via contaminated food and water.

Research is still ongoing into how the infection is spread and how it may cause stomach cancer and another type, non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

For many people, H. pylori does not cause issues and will not need the standard treatment of antibiotics, but it can be the cause of ongoing indigestion, bloating or nausea.

H. pylori is detected with a blood test, breath test or via a stool sample.

The authors of the latest study are now calling for greater investment in the prevention of stomach cancer, particularly through population-wide “screen and treat” programmes for H. pylori.

MSN

 

[rvallee]

The authors of the latest study are now calling for greater investment in the prevention of stomach cancer, particularly through population-wide “screen and treat” programmes for H. pylori.

Hm. That's not very biopsychosocial. Plus, infections are good for us now, apparently. They top up our immune muscles, or whatever. Can't go around scaring people about viruses and bacteria, they're so common, they're everywhere, that would make people nervous wrecks, and so on. People just have to learn to live with them. It's either that or crippling anxiety, apparently.

At some point medicine is going to have to decide whether to continue with the biopsychosocial crap, or accept the full implications of the germ theory of disease. Most likely it will be one, and then, after disastrous regression, the other. There's only one order this can take, and it's the most likely one. After all, can't have cheap apps do the one that works. And it's not about whether something actually works, but about how it feels.

 

[Utsikt]

Hm. That's not very biopsychosocial. Plus, infections are good for us now, apparently. They top up our immune muscles, or whatever. Can't go around scaring people about viruses and bacteria, they're so common, they're everywhere, that would make people nervous wrecks, and so on. People just have to learn to live with them. It's either that or crippling anxiety, apparently.

At some point medicine is going to have to decide whether to continue with the biopsychosocial crap, or accept the full implications of the germ theory of disease. Most likely it will be one, and then, after disastrous regression, the other. There's only one order this can take, and it's the most likely one. After all, can't have cheap apps do the one that works. And it's not about whether something actually works, but about how it feels.

The weird thing is that we managed to deal with TB by telling everyone that they could get it, screening loads of people and investing in finding better treatments.

Then covid comes around, and wearing masks is scaring people into becoming sick.