It became known which disease torments humanity the longest

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

A stomach ulcer was the first disease that a person began to suffer from. This is the conclusion reached by British scientists from the famous University of Cambridge.

Scientists believe that prehistoric people who moved to the European continent from Africa were already carriers of harmful bacteria that cause stomach and duodenal ulcers.

Helicobacter pylori, a bacterium that can survive in the extremely hostile environment of the human stomach, has become the subject of study by British researchers. In 2005, the pioneers of this microbe, Australian scientists Robin Warren and Barry Marshall, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine.

Recent studies have shown that it is Helicobacter pylori that is the cause of 90% of duodenal ulcers and 80% of stomach ulcers. Previously, the cause of these diseases was considered exclusively stress and an unhealthy lifestyle.

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute (Berlin) and the University of Cambridge proceeded from the idea that the human genome became more and more diverse as individual populations settled and isolated.

Comparing, using computer modeling, the genetic variations of humans and bacteria, ubiquitous living in the stomachs of people, scientists have come to the conclusion that the processes of evolution of both genomes proceeded strictly in parallel throughout the entire period of settlement.

This suggests that the bacterium appeared about 100 thousand years ago. And already 40 thousand years later, this bacterium became widespread during the movement of primitive tribes from Africa (namely, it is considered the birthplace of modern mankind according to modern ideas) to Europe and the Middle East. And only relatively recently, about 10 thousand years ago, when people began to move to a sedentary lifestyle and engage mainly in agriculture, other pathogenic bacteria appeared.

However, the question of whether primitive people suffered from peptic ulcer disease remains open. It is possible that for tens of thousands of years, Helicobacter pylori lived in human intestines asymptomatically, and turned into a dangerous causative agent of serious diseases only in recent centuries. This process could be triggered by changes in dietary stereotypes and lifestyle of modern people.