Some people with ITP are also infected with Helicobacter pylori, the same bacteria that cause most peptic ulcers.

CNN: Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP)

The evidence that ulcers are triggered by a bug called Helicobacter pylori had been accumulating since the 1970s.

ECONOMIST: Bugged by disease

About a third of this group carry the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, which makes stomach bleeds three times more likely - and antibiotics eradicate it.

BBC: Aspirin a 'no brainer' against cancer after screening

In demonstrating its approach, the company has chosen to work with a simpler organism than man, namely Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium that causes stomach ulcers.

ECONOMIST: Genomics

Many scientists believe garlic helps prevent stomach cancer because it has anti-bacterial effects against a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, found in the stomach and known to promote cancer there.

BBC: Garlic 'protects against cancer'

Gut bacteria were found to have a surprising role in disease 20 years ago, when Australian scientists showed that stomach ulcers aren't caused by stress, as long thought, but by chronic infection with the stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori.

FORBES: Our Germs, Ourselves

Two common gut bacteria, Escherichia coli and Helicobacter pylori, and also the influenza-A virus, are particularly adept at playing the evasive game of molecular mimicry, and the team is now looking at possible connections between different gut bacteria and autoantibodies against melanocortins to see if they can pin down which, if any, of these bugs might be responsible.

ECONOMIST: Psychiatric disorders and immunity