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HFrom acid dogma to a Nobel prize

Helicobacter pylori ? A gastric spiral that rewrote the ulcer textbook — Nobel 2005, Korea's high historic prevalence, no recipes.

Spiral organisms in stomachs were sketched in the 19th century and then forgotten because they were 'un-culturable' and acid was the dogma.

Marshall's 1984 self-experiment is history. It is not a method this encyclopedia will repeat as instructions.

Timeline

1875Bottcher spirals

Early sketches of gastric spirals are later cited as missed chances.

1979-82Warren's biopsies

Robin Warren sees curved bacteria on gastric biopsies in Perth.

1982Culture success

A forgotten holiday incubator run yields colonies — told as history, not a protocol.

1984Marshall ingests

A public self-experiment produces gastritis and then recovery after treatment — anecdote, not advice.

1989Genus Helicobacter

The organism is moved from Campylobacter into its own genus.

1994IARC Group 1

H. pylori is classed as a gastric carcinogen.

2005Nobel Prize

Marshall and Warren receive the physiology or medicine prize.

2010s-20sKorea decline

Seroprevalence falls as housing, plumbing and treatment access change.

The Nobel in 2005 closed a public argument that clinics had already begun to accept.

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