World Digestive Health Day: WDHD 2006

In October 2005, Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren won the 2005 Nobel Prize for their discovery of the helicobacter pylori bacteria. To honor this achievement and spotlight the importance of this bacteria to world health, the World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO) focused World Digestive Health Day 2006 on helicobacter pylori infection.

Helicobacter pylori is not only the most important risk factor for non cardia gastric cancer, but H. pylori infection accounts for more than 60% of the global cases of gastric cancer.

Highlights and Happenings of WDHD 2006

Public events in honor of WDHD

WGO encouraged all members to organize an event to raise awareness about Helicobacter Pylori Infection in their community.

View WDHD 2006 Events & Success Stories.

Supporting Guidelines & Cascades

To provide educational tools to members, on World Digestive Health Day 2006, WGO released a new guideline on Helicobacter Pylori Infection. This guideline was written by a team of international experts, includes a foreword from Barry J. Marshall and is available for free in six languages (English, French, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish).

To access the Global Guidelines on Helicobacter Pylori Infection, please visit the Supporting Guidelines and Cascades page!

Highlights of the Helicobacter Pylori Infection Guideline:

• Quadruple therapies (PPIs + antibiotics + bismuth) are cheaper than triple therapies and just as effective. Both therapies provide very high eradication rates.
• The current emphasis on triple therapy developed for historical reasons and is hard to justify purely on evidence-based grounds
• Key good practice point: "Take time to explain the complex regimen to the patient- this will improve compliance"
• Metronidazole and Clarithromycin resistance reduce eradication rates
• No large differences in outcome between 14, 10 and 7 days therapy except cost.