Ulcers are quite a painful malady among humans. However, the cause behind it was unknown for a long time. The credit for finding the same goes to Australian physician Dr Barry James Marshall. Born in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, he obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Western Australia in 1974. He worked at Royal Perth Hospital from 1977 to 1984, before going on to teach medicine at the University of Western Australia. In 1979, he became Registrar in Medicine at Royal Perth Hospital.
In 1981, during his internal fellowship medical training, he met Dr Robin Warren. They studied the presence of spiral bacteria in association with gastritis. The two started to determine the significance of bacteria. A study of stomach biopsies from 100 patients was conducted, which proved the presence of bacteria in the majority of the patients with gastritis, duodenal ulcer or gastric ulcer.
Based on the results of this project, they proposed the bacterium called Helicobacter pylori. The prominent issue was that it busted the myth that peptic ulcers resulted from high amounts of gastric acid released in the stomach due to emotional stress. The study also challenged traditional treatments, which propagated antacid medicines and dietary changes, by inculcating a curated regimen of antibiotics and acid-secretion inhibitors.
Hence, it was ridiculed by established doctors and scientists. In an attempt to persuade the skeptics, Dr Marshall drank a culture of Helicobacter pylori. Within a week, he suffered the consequences, with stomach ache and symptoms of acute gastritis. Stomach biopsies were conducted, which proved that he had developed gastritis.
The affected areas of his stomach were found to be infected with Helicobacter pylori. Fortunately, on the 14th day of facing ingestion, a third endoscopy was conducted, after which Dr Marshall started taking antibiotics. The experiment was published in the Medical Journal of Australia in 1985, and it is the most cited article from that journal. However, their journey had setbacks.
They received funding for their research for a year in 1982. The next year, they submitted their findings to the Gastroenterological Society of Australia, but the reviewers rejected it, placing it at the bottom 10%. Along with Dr Warren, Dr Marshall won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2005, for the discovery of stomach ulcers being an infectious disease caused by bacteria.