Helicobacter Pylori - Signs and Symptoms

Signs and Symptoms

Over 80% of people infected with H. pylori show no symptoms. Acute infection may appear as an acute gastritis with abdominal pain (stomach ache) or nausea. Where this develops into chronic gastritis, the symptoms, if present, are often those of non-ulcer dyspepsia: stomach pains, nausea, bloating, belching, and sometimes vomiting or black stool.

Individuals infected with H. pylori have a 10 to 20% lifetime risk of developing peptic ulcers and a 1 to 2% risk of acquiring stomach cancer. Inflammation of the pyloric antrum is more likely to lead to duodenal ulcers, while inflammation of the corpus (body of the stomach) is more likely to lead to gastric ulcers and gastric carcinoma. However, it is possible that H. pylori plays a role only in the first stage that leads to common chronic inflammation, but not in further stages leading to carcinogenesis. A meta-analysis conducted in 2009 concluded that the eradication of H. pylori reduces gastric cancer risk in previously infected individuals, suggesting that the continued presence of H. pylori is a risk factor for gastric cancer.