As a Chinese, it is an unwritten fact that he loves to eat, can eat, and eats exquisitely. Invasive species that are a headache abroad, such as crayfish, tilapia, bullfrogs, etc., have all become specialties in China, and they are not even enough to eat.
It's not wrong to love to eat, but when you are plagued by diseases, "eating" becomes a very difficult thing.
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
Stomach cancer is the third most malignant tumor in mainland China in terms of incidence and death. [1]
In addition to genetics, diet, smoking, alcohol and other factors, what makes us face the threat of stomach cancer is one of the main factors that cause stomach cancer in more than 600 million people lurking in China - Helicobacter pylori.
More than half of the people on the mainland are reported to carry Helicobacter pylori, and most of them have been lurking in the body since childhood.
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The culprit of stomach cancer who "hates the rich and loves the poor"
Helicobacter pylori, this latent, 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 also the only bacteria that can survive in the stomach strong acid environment for a long time. [2]
As a pathogenic bacterium that can parasitize the human stomach, it is closely related to the occurrence of diseases such as gastritis, gastric ulcers and gastric cancer, and the harm should not be underestimated.
The infection of Helicobacter pylori is very wide, with obvious characteristics of "feeling rich and loving the poor":
The infection rate in developed countries is around 30% to 50%;
Infection rates range from 85% to 95% in developing countries [3]. In China, about 44.2% [4], or about 620 million people, are infected.
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As early as 1994, the World Health Organization had listed Helicobacter pylori as a Class I carcinogen; Japan implemented a radical gastric cancer treatment plan in 2013 to include the treatment of helicobacter pylori eradication in patients with chronic gastritis into the scope of national medical insurance, and by the end of 2019, the number of gastric cancer deaths that had been high for many years had been reduced by 14%. [5]
At the same time, multiple systematic retrospective studies have found that treatment with Helicobacter pylori eradication may be effective in reducing the incidence of gastric cancer by 50%. [6]
2 out of every 5 people have been infected
China is the country with the largest number of people infected with Helicobacter pylori, and according to the infection rate, about 2 out of every 5 people around us have been infected with Helicobacter pylori.
Helicobacter pylori is mouth-to-mouth transmission, so dietary hygiene is something to focus on. It is necessary to divide the meal system, at least use public chopsticks and spoons as much as possible.
In developing countries, most children become infected before the age of 10. Sharing utensils, and a small number of parents feeding babies, chewing up the food themselves and then feeding them, may inadvertently lead to infection in the baby.
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 fast, registered in the gastroenterology department, and then oral urea capsules containing 13C or 14C, and then blowing on the expiry card to complete the test.
2. Blood test: Helicobacter pylori can be tested by blood test, but its positive is not necessarily a current infection, and it is not used for re-examination after eradication, which has certain limitations.
Image source: Stand Cool Helo
3. Gastroscopy: not only can check whether there is Helicobacter pylori infection, but also can diagnose whether there is a lesion in the stomach and the severity.
4. Stool testing: a method to check whether the Helicobacter pylori antigen is positive by taking stool samples. Accuracy is similar to the Gold Standard Expiratory Test, which is convenient and does not need to be done in a hospital.
Nowadays, under the epidemic, many people are reluctant to run the hospital, but fortunately, Helicobacter pylori now has a self-test product, we can operate it at home, and the accuracy of the detection is also very high, such as this Helicobacter pylori detection product - ghost tube.