Blood test shows up risk bug

A blood test to detect a common stomach bug could identify people with a high risk of developing stomach cancer, says British scientist Professor David Forman.

Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that lives in the lining of the stomach, is the leading cause of stomach cancer, which kills nearly a million people each year.

The University of Leeds scientist told a European conference last week that a blood test could easily detect the bacterium, which can be treated with antibiotics.

Apart from smoking, few causes of cancer had an attributable risk of the magnitude of the bacterium, he told the ECCO 11 cancer meeting in Portugal.

"The critical question concerns the extent to which H. pylori precancerous changes will regress, or be prevented from progressing, after the eradication of H. pylori from the stomach."

Professor Forman said large-scale studies were needed to show if eliminating the bacterium would help prevent the disease.

Genetic makeup could be the key to why some people with the infection developed stomach cancer and others did not, he said.

Some researchers consider stomach cancer an overreaction of the immune system to H. pylori. The infection is linked with ulcers and gastritis.

- REUTERS

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