The helicobacter pylori is a bacteria that is found in the stomach. Though this bacteria is common, it has been linked to some pathology of the stomach and esophagus including stomach cancer and peptic ulcers. For decades, the bacteria lives in the mucous lining of the stomachs of those infected. People usually acquire the bacteria before the age of ten.

The helicobacter pylori bacteria is thought to spread among families. In developing countries, ninety percent of children are infected with this bacteria by the time they are five years old. In industrialized countries, less than ten percent of the children carry this bacteria strain.

Researchers are beginning to identify possible benefits of h. pylori. Recently, a potential benefit of helicobacter pylori in bronchial asthma has been discovered. The people who carry helicobacter pylori are at forty percent less risk of childhood asthma. This strain of bacteria also decreases people’s risk of allergies such as ragweed.

The decline in the presence of this bacteria in industrialized nations may be due to the use of antibiotics. Antibiotics kill this strain of bacteria. Certain diseases that are on the rise in industrialized countries, like childhood asthma, may be because the h. pylori bacteria is on the decline. Some researchers suspect that the h. pylori bacteria protects people against gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Gastroesophageal reflux disease can cause other problems including a precancerous condition.

The discovery of the effects of helicobacter pylori in broncial asthma leaves researchers questioning the use of antibiotics that kill the helicobacter pylori bacterium. One study that was done found that people who had the bacteria were twenty percent less likely to have had childhood asthma and were less sensitive to molds and pollen.

Helicobacter pylori did not affect whether or not people had an adult onset of asthma. The effect of helicobacter pylori on allergy symptoms seemed to only apply to people under the age of forty-three. Adults older than forty-three showed no difference in asthma symptoms in relation to whether or not they carried h. pylori. People younger than forty-three years old who carried h. pylori reported fewer allergy symptoms.

Some researchers believe that the h. pylori bacteria’s affect on the immune system, and the subsequent development of asthma and allergies is an example in support of the hygiene hypothesis. The hygiene hypothesis claims that exposure to bacteria and viruses in childhood can foster the development of healthy immune system reactions. More research will need to be done to confirm the effects of this bacterial strain on childhood asthma and gastroesophageal reflux disease.