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]Australian Nobel winner was a human guinea pig
Tue Oct 4, 5:07 AM ET
CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian scientist who jointly won the 2005 Nobel prize for medicine said he became a human guinea pig and drank a cocktail of bacteria to prove his theories that ulcers were not caused by stress.
Australian professor Barry Marshall and Robin Warren were awarded the 2005 Nobel prize for their 1982 discovery that the Helicobacter pylori bacterium, rather than stress, caused stomach ulcers and inflammation.
Marshall, who spent Tuesday fielding calls of congratulations from around the world, said he became a human laboratory rat to convince skeptics that ulcers and stomach inflammation were caused by bacterium.
"I didn't think about it very much and probably I wouldn't have done it if I had really thought it through," Marshall told reporters in the Western Australian capital of Perth.
The discovery by Marshall, now 54, and Warren, 68, led to the development of an antibiotics and drug treatment for most ulcers, overturning the conventional medical thinking of the time and easing the suffering for millions of people each year.
After drinking the bacteria, Marshall suffered nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, but overcame the condition with treatment similar to the regimen of antibiotics and acid secretion inhibitors now commonly prescribed to sufferers.
He said he had no choice but to give himself the condition to convince medical skeptics that the bacterium was the cause and not the symptom of stomach ulcers, which can pre-dispose people to gastric cancer.
SWALLOW YOUR BACTERIA!
"Somebody had to do it, somebody had to swallow those bacteria and develop the disease," Marshall told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
"It was the only way you could convince the skeptics.
Warren said the pair were initially reluctant to publish their findings because of the way Marshall had given himself the condition and because their findings were so radical.
"At the time everyone thought we were a bit crazy because the whole thing was so way out in terms of normal medical teaching in those days," Warren told reporters.
"For me, it (the Nobel prize) means that they are putting the official stamp of approval on all the work that I did and all the trouble that I had and all the disbelief."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard congratulated the pair on Tuesday, and said their work had bought relief to millions of people around the world.
"The research destroyed a myth, very widely held," Howard told reporters. "The prize is richly deserved."
Marshall and Warren, who were working at the royal Perth hospital at the time of their breakthrough, are the first all-Australian team to win the Nobel prize for medicine.
Warren is now retired, but Marshall continues to study the effects of the bacterium on humans and animals.
"I've got no imagination. I'm still in the Helicobacter business," Marshall said. "But these days we're doing molecular studies, cloning, vaccines and all that kind of stuff.
"You can't study ulcers in Australia any more, because everyone with an ulcer has been cured, as far as I can tell."
Tue Oct 4, 5:07 AM ET
CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian scientist who jointly won the 2005 Nobel prize for medicine said he became a human guinea pig and drank a cocktail of bacteria to prove his theories that ulcers were not caused by stress.
Australian professor Barry Marshall and Robin Warren were awarded the 2005 Nobel prize for their 1982 discovery that the Helicobacter pylori bacterium, rather than stress, caused stomach ulcers and inflammation.
Marshall, who spent Tuesday fielding calls of congratulations from around the world, said he became a human laboratory rat to convince skeptics that ulcers and stomach inflammation were caused by bacterium.
"I didn't think about it very much and probably I wouldn't have done it if I had really thought it through," Marshall told reporters in the Western Australian capital of Perth.
The discovery by Marshall, now 54, and Warren, 68, led to the development of an antibiotics and drug treatment for most ulcers, overturning the conventional medical thinking of the time and easing the suffering for millions of people each year.
After drinking the bacteria, Marshall suffered nausea, vomiting and stomach pain, but overcame the condition with treatment similar to the regimen of antibiotics and acid secretion inhibitors now commonly prescribed to sufferers.
He said he had no choice but to give himself the condition to convince medical skeptics that the bacterium was the cause and not the symptom of stomach ulcers, which can pre-dispose people to gastric cancer.
SWALLOW YOUR BACTERIA!
"Somebody had to do it, somebody had to swallow those bacteria and develop the disease," Marshall told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
"It was the only way you could convince the skeptics.
Warren said the pair were initially reluctant to publish their findings because of the way Marshall had given himself the condition and because their findings were so radical.
"At the time everyone thought we were a bit crazy because the whole thing was so way out in terms of normal medical teaching in those days," Warren told reporters.
"For me, it (the Nobel prize) means that they are putting the official stamp of approval on all the work that I did and all the trouble that I had and all the disbelief."
Australian Prime Minister John Howard congratulated the pair on Tuesday, and said their work had bought relief to millions of people around the world.
"The research destroyed a myth, very widely held," Howard told reporters. "The prize is richly deserved."
Marshall and Warren, who were working at the royal Perth hospital at the time of their breakthrough, are the first all-Australian team to win the Nobel prize for medicine.
Warren is now retired, but Marshall continues to study the effects of the bacterium on humans and animals.
"I've got no imagination. I'm still in the Helicobacter business," Marshall said. "But these days we're doing molecular studies, cloning, vaccines and all that kind of stuff.
"You can't study ulcers in Australia any more, because everyone with an ulcer has been cured, as far as I can tell."
Article
Thanx to Kirby
It's like something out of a comic book only instead of superpowers the scientist got sick.
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