This high power microscopic section of gastric mucosa is stained with toluidine blue to reveal the presence of many short, curved rod-like organisms overlying the mucosa. These are Helicobacter pylori organisms, whose home is the gastric mucus. With gram staining they are gram-negative. The incidence of H. pylori infection increases with age, with half of American adults infected by age 50. H. pylori organisms elaborate urease, protease, and phospholipases that break down mucosal glycoproteins and damage epithelial cells, leading to inflammation--a chronic gastritis that is asymptomatic in most cases. Peptic ulcer disease, particularly duodenal ulceration, is strongly associated with H. pylori infection, which may also play a role in development of gastric carcinoma. Antibiotic treatment of H. pylori reduces these complications
| Our winner is: KP Aravidan of Kerala, INDIA
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