IN 10 years stomach ulcers could be something you read about in medical history books. Doctors are finding that good old antibiotics do the trick for many people, curing stomach ulcers once and for all.
An advisory committee to the United States Food and Drug Administration last month recommended antibiotics for their treatment.
If you suffer from a stomach ulcer, the chances are you are infected with the bug known as helicobacter pylori, or you are a regular taker of pain killers such as aspirin.
One in every two people in the world is believed to carry the helicobacter pylori, but it appears to affect people in different ways.
It always causes inflammation of the stomach lining, but some of us don't seem to suffer at all, while about 40 per cent go on to develop ulcers and one to two per cent get stomach cancer, said Dr David Graham, chief of the Digestive Disease Division atthe Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
But, a combination of factors seem to be needed before a stomach ulcer develops - smoking, taking aspirin or being under stress - on top of helicobacter pylori infection, according to American expert Dr Kevin Ivey, of the University of California's Gastroenterology and Hepatology Medical Group in Irvine, who was visiting Hong Kong recently.
