[Nobel [corrected] prize for the discoverers of Helicobacter pylori--the overlooked bacteria].
Robin Warren and Barry Marshal won the Noble prize of 2005 in medicine for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease. The historical review in the article shows that the bacteria was observed in the past, but wasn't accepted by the scientific community. The article, with regard to Kuhn's model for scientific revulotions, demonstrates how the prevailing dogmas about stress as the cause of ulcers and the sterility of the stomach, led researchers to overlook the bacterium for many years, despite evidence to its presence. The outlook shows the axiom that a paradigm shift that follows a scientific discovery is based upon an infrastructure of many factors rather than on pure rational science. This review inhances the historical lesson that facts and evidence are culturally dependent, and that critical physicians and researchers are essential for the progress of medicine and science.
Levine
Hagai
H
The Faculty of Medicine of the Hebrew University and Hadassah, Jerusalem, Israel. tohagai@bezeqint.net
D005756:Gastritis / Q000382:microbiology; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D009613:Nobel Prize; D010437:Peptic Ulcer / Q000382:microbiology; D014481:United States