The Rediscovery of H. pylori Bacteria in the Gastric Mucosa by Robin Warren, and Implications of this Finding for Human Biology and Disease

Abstract

Every current medical student has learned the story of the discovery of the bacteria now known as Helicobacter pylori. Robin Warren, a clinical pathologist in Perth, Western Australia, observed gastric bacteria under the microscope that no one else believed existed, that is until a young medical resident, Barry Marshall, drank a homebrewed culture to prove that the bacteria cause gastritis. Fast forward 25 years and they are awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery. Gastroenterologists are familiar with Marshall’s side of the story, since he is one of our own. Warren’s part in the initiation of the H. pylori saga is less well known in popular mythology, but it is well worth retelling. To do so, I have leaned heavily on Warren’s compelling 2005 address to the Nobel Committee [1] when he and Marshall were awarded the prize in medicine or physiology for their discovery of H. pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease. The chapter Warren wrote in the fascinating book Helicobacter Pioneers edited by Barry Marshall, provides further details [2]. I also had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Warren in June 2013, some 34 years almost to the day since his first written description of the gastric bacteria he had recognized in a patient’s routine pathology report, containing his remarkably prescient conclusions regarding their possible importance: Robin Warren in his lab. Perth, Western Australia, 1986