As a Chinese, it is an unwritten fact that I like to eat, know how to eat, and eat carefully. Invasive species that are troublesome in foreign countries, such as crayfish, tilapia, bullfrogs, etc., have all become special delicacies in China, and they are not even enough.
It’s not wrong to love to eat, but when you are sick, “eating” becomes a very difficult thing.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
Gastric cancer is the third most common malignant tumor in our country. [1]
In addition to genetics, diet, smoking, drinking and other factors that make us face the threat of gastric cancer, there is also a person lurking in the body of more than 600 million people in China, one of the main factors leading to gastric cancer – Helicobacter pylori.
It is reported that more than half of the people in my country carry Helicobacter pylori, and most of them have been latent in the body since childhood.
Image source: Weibo screenshot
The culprit of stomach cancer ‘to the rich and loving the poor’
Helicobacter pylori, the lurker, is actually an old friend of human beings. It has existed for more than 50,000 years. It can be said that it has accompanied human evolution to the present, and it is the only long-term Bacteria that live in the strong acid environment of the stomach. [2]
As a pathogenic bacteria that can live in the human stomach, it is closely related to the occurrence of gastritis, gastric ulcer and gastric cancer, and its harm should not be underestimated.
Helicobacter pylori has a very wide range of infection, and it has obvious characteristics of “dislike the rich and love the poor”:
The infection rate in developed countries is around 30% to 50%;
2. The infection rate in developing countries is around 85% to 95% [3]. About 44.2% in China[4], about 620 million people infected.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
As early as 1994, the World Health Organization has classified Helicobacter pylori as a class I carcinogen; Japan implemented a gastric cancer radical plan in 2013 to eradicate pylori in patients with chronic gastritis Helicobacter treatment has been included in the national medical insurance. By the end of 2019, the number of deaths from gastric cancer, which had been high for a long time, decreased by 14%. [5]
Meanwhile, multiple systematic reviews have found that H. pylori eradication therapy may be effective in reducing the incidence of gastric cancer by 50%. [6]
2 out of 5 have been infected
China is the country with the largest number of people infected with Helicobacter pylori. According to the infection rate, about 2 out of every 5 people around us have been infected with Helicobacter pylori.
Helicobacter pylori can be transmitted by mouth-to-mouth, so dietary hygiene is a priority to prevent. It is necessary to divide the meal system, at least try to use public chopsticks and spoons.
In developing countries, most children are infected by the age of 10. Shared utensils, and a small number of parents who feed infants by chewing the food themselves before feeding, may inadvertently lead to infant infections.
So, how do you know if you have Helicobacter pylori infection? There are four main methods:
1. Breath test: The breath test is more than 95% accurate in diagnosing Helicobacter pylori infection and is convenient and quick. 13C or 14C urea capsules, and then blow on the exhalation card to complete the test.
2. Blood test: Helicobacter pylori can be detected by blood test, but the positive result is not necessarily a current infection, and it is not used for re-examination after eradication. limitation.
Image source: Zhanku Hailuo
3. Gastroscopy: It can not only check whether there is Helicobacter pylori infection, but also diagnose whether there are lesions in the stomach and its severity.
4. Stool testing: A method of checking for positive H. pylori antigen by taking a sample of the stool. The accuracy is similar to the gold standard breath test, and the test is convenient and does not need to be done in a hospital.
Under the current epidemic, many people are reluctant to go to the hospital, but fortunately, Helicobacter pylori now has a self-test product, we can operate it at home, and the detection accuracy is also very high , such as this Helicobacter pylori detection product – pylori tube.