When H-pylori attacks epithelium and burrows through layers of tissue, the separating membranes are damaged and lose adherence, collagen structures are damaged, and eventually tissue thins and atrophies. H-pylori can cause loss of normal apoptosis (normal programmed cell death); and generate sticky proteins. H-pylori can invade immune cells, particularly neutrophils, and cause neutrophils to change size and shape, to resemble cancer. H-pylori can become more pathogenic when combined with other immortal pathogens.

H-pylori as a cause of stomach ulcers and stomach cancer has been called the tip of the iceberg. H-pylori can attack epithelium anywhere in the body. H-pylori has been implicated in many chronic diseases, including but not limited to Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, rosacea, heart disease, corneal disease, glaucoma, and retinal disease; and other types of cancers, including pancreatic cancer and lymphoma.

Long-term follow-up in China, in an area where rates of stomach cancer are high, showed treatment of H-pylori with antibiotics reduced the incidence of stomach cancer by almost forty percent, during the fifteen year period after treatment.