Health

J. Robin Warren, Who Proved That Bacteria Cause Ulcers, Dies at 87

Published

2 years ago

August 9, 2024

J. Robin Warren, Who Proved That Bacteria Cause Ulcers, Dies at 87

Dr. J. Robin Warren, an Australian pathologist who shared a Nobel Prize for discovering that most stomach ulcers were caused by the bacterium Helicobacter pylori — and not, as had been widely believed, stress, alcohol or spicy foods — died on July 23 in Inglewood, Australia. He was 87.

His death, at a care home, was announced by the University of Western Australia in Perth, where he was an emeritus professor for many years. His daughter-in-law Gigi Warren said the cause was complications after a recent fall.

In 1984, Dr. Warren and his collaborator, the gastroenterologist Barry Marshall, published a paper in the British medical journal The Lancet describing their finding that the spiral-shaped bacterium now commonly called H. pylori festered in the stomachs of patients with ulcers and gastritis. Dr. Warren had first noticed the bacterium on a gastric biopsy sample in 1979.

The paper’s conclusion upended centuries of conventional wisdom about the cause of ulcers. (Psychoanalysts had even written of the “peptic ulcer personality.”) Doctors typically prescribed stress reduction, a bland diet and, starting in 1977, drugs like Tagamet and Zantac to tame the burning acids. Severe cases were sometimes treated with surgery.

When the study was published, gastroenterologists were skeptical. They expressed concern about whether to trust potentially paradigm-shifting findings made by two unknown researchers in Australia. And the idea that bacteria could even grow in the stomach was considered blasphemy.

“For about 100 years, or 1,000 years, the standard teaching in medicine was that the stomach was sterile and nothing grew there because of corrosive gastric juices,” Dr. Warren told The New York Times in 2005 after he and Dr. Marshall won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. “So everybody believed there were no bacteria in the stomach. When I said they were there, no one believed it.”

The study was also at odds with the marketing done by pharmaceutical companies, which had spent millions of dollars developing acid reduction drugs. Those medicines cleared up ulcers, but the condition often returned again and again. Dr. Warren and Dr. Marshall’s work suggested that antibiotics would be a more effective treatment.

“The prospect that antibiotics might cure ulcers was a serious threat to the world record profitability of the recently developed wonder drugs that stopped the secretion of gastric acid and healed ulcers rapidly,” Dr. William S. Hughes wrote in “The Great Ulcer War” (2014), a history of the Australian duo’s fight over proving that H. pylori caused ulcers.

Fed up with the skepticism and pushback after their paper was published, Dr. Marshall had a rather unconventional idea: infecting themselves with H. pylori.

“I didn’t like that idea at all,” Dr. Warren later said, “so I think I just said no.”

But Dr. Marshall went through with it, gulping down a broth of the bacterium. A few days later, he became severely ill with gastritis — the precursor to an ulcer.

That still wasn’t enough proof. It would take almost a decade for physicians to finally accept the findings and change how they treated ulcers: with antibiotics, just as they would treat any other bacterial infection.

“Now there is the possibility of curing the condition, which was unthought of before,” Hugo Gallo-Torres, a Food and Drug Administration official, said in 1994, adding, “We had treated ulcers with anti-secretory compounds for so many years, it was hard to accept that a germ, a bacterium, would produce a disease like that.”

John Robin Warren was born on June 11, 1937, in North Adelaide, Australia. His father, Roger, studied viticulture and was a winemaker. His mother, Helen (Verco) Warren, was a nurse who had dreams of becoming a doctor but couldn’t afford medical school.

He studied medicine at the University of Adelaide, graduating in 1961. He wanted to specialize in psychiatry, but he wasn’t accepted into the residency program. He chose clinical pathology instead, committing himself to a solitary life staring into a microscope.

“In practice, ‘Clinical Pathology’ meant mainly laboratory hematology, which I thoroughly enjoyed,” Dr. Warren wrote in his Nobel autobiography. “Although the usual work entailed reporting on blood smears and bone marrow, we had a wide range of other tasks, including examining feces for parasites, examining urine and testing skin and nails for fungus.”

In 1968, he became a pathologist at Royal Perth Hospital, which is affiliated with the University of Western Australia.

“He was a bit eccentric,” Dr. Marshall said in an interview. “You’re a pathologist living down in the basement there, cutting up dead bodies and that. So you didn’t have to be a people person really to succeed at that job.”

What Dr. Warren did have was a kind of scholarly stubbornness.

“He’s uninfluenced by other people’s opinions,” Dr. Marshall said, adding that even when colleagues laughed at their attempts to prove H. pylori caused ulcers, “as far as he’s concerned, that was the facts. And if you didn’t believe it, it’s because you were just incompetent or something.”

Dr. Warren married Winifred Williams, a psychiatrist, in 1962. She died in 1997. They had five children. (Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.)

At the outset of Dr. Warren’s obsession with H. pylori, his wife was among the few people in his life not to deem him crazy — though she was certainly qualified to do so.

“Before I met Barry, Win was the only person to accept my work and encourage me,” he wrote in his Nobel autobiography. “As a psychiatrist, she could have suggested I was mad. But she stood beside me and helped me when no one else would.”

Health

Common nighttime noise exposure may trigger heart problems, study suggests

Published

5 hours ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Common nighttime noise exposure may trigger heart problems, study suggests

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Living near heavy traffic could negatively impact your heart health.

A European study, published in the journal Environmental Research, found that exposure to nighttime road traffic noise is linked to changes in the blood, leading to worsened cholesterol and cardiovascular risks.

The researchers considered data from the U.K. Biobank, Rotterdam Study, and Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, including more than 272,000 adults over the age of 30, according to a press release.

Nighttime road noise exposure was estimated at all participants’ homes based on national noise maps. Researchers also took blood samples to measure the participants’ metabolic biomarkers for disease, then mapped the link between nightly noise levels and existence of biomarkers.

Exposure to loud noise was associated with increased concentrations of cholesterol-related biomarkers. (iStock)

The study found that people exposed to louder noise at night — especially sounds above 55 decibels — showed changes in 48 different substances in their blood. Twenty of these associations “remained robust” throughout all cohorts.

Exposure to loud noise was associated with increased concentrations of cholesterol-related biomarkers, especially LDL “bad” cholesterol, IDL (intermediate-density lipoprotein) and unsaturated fatty acids.

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As noise levels increased, starting at around 50 decibels, cholesterol markers rose steadily, the release stated.

The authors concluded that this study “provides evidence that nighttime road traffic noise exposure from 50 dB upward is associated with alterations in blood cholesterol and lipid profiles in adults.”

Researchers noted a link between traffic noise and cardiometabolic disease. (iStock)

Study co-author Yiyan He, doctoral researcher at the University of Oulu in Finland, noted that in this type of research, small effect sizes are expected, and environmental exposures such as traffic noise are “typically modest.”

SIMPLE NIGHTLY HABIT LINKED TO HEALTHIER BLOOD PRESSURE, STUDY SUGGESTS

“Despite this, we observed statistically robust and consistent associations across many biomarkers, especially those related to LDL and IDL lipoproteins,” she told Fox News Digital.

MISSING SLEEP MAY TAKE A HIDDEN TOLL ON YOUR BRAIN AND LONGEVITY, RESEARCH REVEALS

“We also identified a clear exposure-response pattern starting at around 50 dB, suggesting that metabolic changes become more evident as noise levels increase.”

This aligns with public health guidance, as the World Health Organization recommends lower nighttime noise limits at around 40 to 45 dB, Yiyan He added.

“This finding may clarify the association between traffic noise and cardiometabolic diseases,” the researchers wrote. (iStock)

“The 55 dB level is often used as an interim benchmark associated with substantial noise annoyance and sleep disturbance,” she said. “In our study, we observed associations not only at 55 dB, but also indications of effects emerging at around 50 dB.”

The strength and consistency of the cholesterol-related associations were surprising, as these changes are usually “subtle.”

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“Instead, we found consistent associations across multiple large European cohorts, which strengthens confidence that the findings may reflect real biological patterns,” Yiyan He went on. “We were also interested to see that effects were minimal below ~50 dB, suggesting a possible threshold-like pattern.”

HEART DISEASE THREAT PROJECTED TO CLIMB SHARPLY FOR KEY DEMOGRAPHIC

The researcher noted that these findings were consistent across genders, education levels and obesity status.

The study was restricted to White Europeans, which posed a limitation. There was also a lack of information on the fasting status in the UK Biobank.

Changes in cholesterol levels were more severe than researchers expected. (iStock)

“Fasting can influence levels of certain metabolites, particularly fatty acids,” Yiyan He said. “However, based on UK Biobank documentation, fewer than 10% of participants were fasting for at least eight hours, and our main findings focused on cholesterol-related biomarkers, which are generally less sensitive to short-term fasting.”

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The researchers also lacked information on bedroom location, indoor noise exposure and time spent at home.

“These factors may introduce non-differential exposure misclassification,” Yiyan He said. “Additionally, noise exposure estimates were based on participants’ temporary residential addresses at the time of blood sampling, without considering the duration of residence.”

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“Many of these limitations would tend to bias results toward the null, so the consistent associations we observed remain noteworthy.”

Experts recommend taking measures to limit traffic noise at night. (iStock)

Based on this latest research, Yiyan He noted that nighttime noise is a “health-relevant exposure,” not just “an annoyance.”

“Our findings suggest that nighttime traffic noise may subtly but consistently affect metabolic health,” she said. “While the changes in cholesterol and lipid levels for any one individual are small, traffic noise affects a very large number of people, which means the potential public health impact could be substantial.”

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The researcher recommends taking measures like improving sound insulation, using noise-reducing strategies and placing bedrooms on the quieter side of the home when possible.

“Because sleep is a key pathway linking noise to health, protecting the nighttime sleep environment is especially important,” she added.

Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle reporter for Fox News Digital.

Health

The Best Time To Drink Coffee for Weight Loss and a Faster Metabolism

Published

16 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

The Best Time To Drink Coffee for Weight Loss and a Faster Metabolism

The Best Time To Drink Coffee for Weight Loss and Fat Burn | Woman’s World

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