Saturday, March 10, 2007

If I ever meet Dr Barry Marshall...

Everyone knows what peptic ulcer is, right? (Actually right now I could write a whole essay on peptic ulcer, it being the case for this week). From memory, peptic ulcer had a small mention in the film Intolerable Cruelty. Basically it's an ulcer in the stomach or earlier part of small bowel, similar to the ones we get in our mouthes. As a disease, even the ancient egyptians had it.

In the early 1980's, a pathologist at the Royal Perth Hospital named Robin Warren noticed a bacteria found in the stomach of gastritis sufferers. This idea was considered outlandish, since everyone knows that the strong acid in the stomach means no bug could live there. Warren was soon joined by Marshall, who was looking for a research project. Together, the pair tried to culture (ie grow) the bug, but to no avail, until Easter came around. During the Easter break, there was a staffing shortage, and the culture was left for an unusually long time... and the bacteria grew. (Haha, love the Australian culture where everyone goes away during Easter and even the most important medical research is put aside...)

Once cultured, Marshall's job was to prove that these bacteria caused ulcers, which went against the commonly held notions of the time. In frustration, in 1984, he drank a culture of bacteria himself. Eventually, he became very sick, developing gastritis (which would have turned into ulcer if he left it). He then cured himself with antibiotics.

The road to gaining widespread recognition of the cause of ulcers was still a long one and it was 10 years before it was officially recognised, but his point has been made. And today, 20 years on, we at medical school are taught that H. pylori bacteria causes 70% of gastric ulcer and 90% of duodenal ulcer. Of course, it was a great discovery, as we can now treat ulcers such that there is a very low chance of recurrance. People's lives are improved. The need for surgery is lessened. Chances of complications reduced. Medicine at its best.

But, seriously, what kind of person drinks a culture of bacteria to see if he gets ill? My PBL tutor was working as a physiotherapist at the Royal Perth when this was going on, and she said everyone thought he was nuts. (Which is why he drank the culture, I guess.) Didn't anyone try stop him? ("There's got to be a better way!") And it would certainly have tasted awful.

Barry Marshall sounds quite insane. Which means, of course, if I'd ever met him, I would be too chicken to tell him I think he's insane. I would be reacting along the lines of - "Um, (giggle) um, um...big fan, read all about you. (nervous giggle) Um. Can I have a photo with you? Can I have your autograph? So... uh... uh... what did it taste like?"

Oh, and by the way, if you didn't know, Barry Marshall and Robin Warren won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 2005. According to my microbiology lecturer, Marshall had problems getting his research published because he didn't have ethics approval to test the culture on someone (ie himself).

(Sida's Note: to go to the sequel to this story, click here.)

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