Flagella bundle
Several polar flagella power the corkscrew through mucus.
The organism sits in the mucus layer and on epithelial cells, not swimming freely in hydrochloric acid.
Chronic gastritis can last decades. A smaller path leads toward atrophy and, in some people, cancer — population risk, not fate.
Parts
Urease enzyme
A diagnostic breath test conceptually uses this chemistry. Performing a test is clinical.
Adhesins
Surface proteins help it stay on gastric cells of a particular blood-group landscape.
Cag pathogenicity island
A gene cluster in some strains associated with stronger inflammation in studies.
VacA
A vacuolating toxin discussed in strain typing — name only, not a protocol.
Mucus pH gradient
The niche is a thin livable layer above tissue, below bulk acid.
Life cycle
1Acquire young
Crowded childhood homes are the usual classroom.
2Colonize mucus
Urease and motility establish a decades-long stay in many people.
3Chronic gastritis
The lining stays inflamed, often silently.
4Ulcer or rare cancer path
A subset ulcerate; a smaller subset enter a cancer-risk pathway — clinical follow-up, not fate.
Culture history is mentioned only as Marshall's anecdote. No method is given.
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