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Podcast: QAA Podcast
Episode: Trickle Down Episode 9: Upset Tummies (Sample)
Description: For most of the 20th century, the causes of peptic ulcers were a mystery to scientists and doctors. The most popular theory was that it was a disease caused by stress. The mystery was finally unraveled in the 1980s when Australian physician Barry Marshall deliberately infected himself with the H. Pylori bacteria, got sick, and cured himself with an antibiotic treatment. The discovery that bacteria caused ulcers earned Marshall and his research partner a Nobel Prize in 2005.
But why did it take so long to discover the true cause and treatment of ulcers? The answer lies in bad evidence collection...