Word: parsonnet
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Center in Honolulu found that people infected with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori were three to six times as likely to develop stomach cancer over a 20-year period as those who were not infected. "This is not just a little risk we're talking about," says Stanford's Julie Parsonnet, though she points out that not everyone infected with the bacterium develops cancer. Indeed, the bug, which may enter the body through dirty water or human contact, is extremely common: it is present in the gut of 50% of Americans and of up to 90% of people in poorer regions...
...nefarious H. pylori has also been linked to ulcers and gastritis -- inflammation of the stomach lining. Parsonnet and others believe that people with chronic duodenal ulcers should consider a course of antibiotics to knock out the bug rather than rely on costly medications like Tagamet and Zantac, which treat the symptoms, not the cause. Meanwhile, studies are under way in Colombia and Mexico to determine if a similar strategy of antibiotics could play a role in cutting the world's incidence of stomach cancer...