page_title: Timeline of peptic ulcer disease and Helicobacter pylori
section_title: 1900–1950
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of peptic ulcer disease and Helicobacter pylori / 1900–1950
caption_attribution_description: English: Close up of Streptococcus.
context_page_description: This is a timeline of the events relating to the discovery that peptic ulcer disease and some cancers are caused by H. pylori. In 2005, Barry Marshall and Robin Warren were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery that peptic ulcer disease was primarily caused by Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium with affinity for acidic environments, such as the stomach. As a result, PUD that is associated with H. pylori is currently treated with antibiotics used to eradicate the infection. For decades prior to their discovery, it was widely believed that PUD was caused by excess acid in the stomach. During this time, acid control was the primary method of treatment for PUD, to only partial success. Among other effects, it is now known that acid suppression alters the stomach milieu to make it less amenable to H. pylori infection.
context_section_description: 1905
  F. Reigel suggests that ulcers are caused by excess acid.
  1906
  Krienitz finds bacteria in the stomach of people with gastric cancer.
  Turck feeds dogs Bacillus coli and produces ulcers.
  1907
  Berkley Moynihan suggests that acid is a cause of ulcers.
  1910
  Schwartz publishes the excess acid theory of the ulcer, coining the famous phrase "no acid, no ulcer."
  Gibelli claims to be unable to reproduce Turck's study where he artificially created ulcers by feeding dogs bacteria.
  1913
  Rosenow suggests that streptococci produce ulcers.
  1915
  Antacids are first recommended for the treatment of PUD.
  Bacteria are associated with PUD, but it is assumed that the bacteria reside in the mouth.
  1919
  Katsuya Kasai and Rokuzo Kobayashi isolate spirochetes in cats and transmit them to rabbits, producing ulcers.
  1921
  Luger discovers spirochetes in the gastric juice, and associates their presence with gastric cancer.
  1924
  Luck and Seth discover urease in the human stomach, which they believe is naturally occurring.
  1925
  Hoffman injects a small sample from a human with PUD into a guinea pig, producing ulcers, and isolates a bacterium which he believes caused the ulcers.
  1936
  First edition of the Russian Large Medical Encyclopedia suggests infection is one of the causes of PUD.
  1939
  A. Stone Freedberg begins a study to look for bacteria in the human stomach at Beth Israel Hospital. He finds H. pylori. It is rumored that others cannot reproduce the results, although no negative results are published.
  James Doenges describes spirochetes in autopsies.
  1940
  Freedberg and Baron observe spirochetes in autopsies. Freedberg abandons his research, however, after his boss advises him to move to another subject. In 2005, Marshall speculates that Freedberg would have won the Nobel Prize in 1951 had he continued his work.
  1948
  Fitzgerald and Murphy hypothesize that PUD is caused by acid eating away mucosa, and demonstrate the effectiveness of urea as a treatment for PUD.
caption: Streptococci
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