Around 30%-40% of adults in the USA has Helicobacter pylori, which modern medicine believes is related to many stomach diseases. Anyone who tests positive is required to take antibiotics for several weeks to eliminate the bacteria. My mother, in her 40s, suffered kidney damage and severe edema after taking antibiotics for over a month to kill Helicobacter pylori.

Question: If Helicobacter pylori is indeed the cause of many stomach diseases, why do 80-90 millions adults in the USA have the bacteria, yet not everyone suffers from stomach diseases?

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) believes that "worms only grow in rotten meat," meaning fresh meat won't have maggots; they only appear when the meat decays and smells. TCM also holds that "invasion of pathogens must be due to a deficiency of essential qi." Viruses and bacteria often invade when the body's qi and blood are deficient and immunity is weak. Therefore, the relationship between Helicobacter pylori and stomach diseases can be understood as follows: when the body's immunity is normal, it can coexist peacefully with Helicobacter pylori without issues. However, if the stomach's immunity is weakened due to illness, Helicobacter pylori can take advantage. Even if antibiotics are taken today to kill the bacteria, there's no guarantee that one won't be reinfected later, especially since one in three people in the USA has the bacteria. The right approach is to nourish the stomach and restore its immunity, eliminating the need to take toxic drugs to kill bacteria, which harms the body as much as it helps.

The human body is a microcosm of the vast world. The entire body surface, all orifices, and the gastrointestinal tract are inhabited by microorganisms, which, according to statistics, outnumber the total cells in the human body. Among them, there are many harmful to the human body, but as long as the body's healthy qi is sufficient, peaceful coexistence is possible, and there is nothing to fear.