Helicobacter pylori:: strategies for treatment

Helicobacter pylori (Hp) is a Cram-negative bacteria able to live in the human stomach, a very surprising fact considering the acid environment of gastric mucosa. Identified by Marshall and Warren in 1982 ([1,2]), this bacterium seems aetiologically related to many gastric diseases, previously known as 'acid related diseases'. Compelling evidence demonstrates that Hp is the most important aetiological agent of gastritis ([3]), the principal causal factor in peptic ulcer ([4]), contributes to the genesis of gastric cancer ([5]) and has a critical role in the development of many mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas ([6]) Although experimental data have recently provided hard evidence to support the role of Hp in the genesis of gastritis, ulcer and carcinoma ([7]), a critical argument for Hp generating peptic ulcer disease has been, in fact, the change in the natural history of peptic ulcer that follows the cure of the infection.