This year's Nobel prize for medicine -- to two Australians for discovering that most stomach ulcers are a product of bacterial infection -- indicates that when it comes to the natural world, including our own bodies, we still have a lot to learn. The prize is also a testament to the fact that despite the megabucks being spent in  tackling `big' problems like cancer or HIV/Aids, breakthroughs are possible in seemingly settled fields by good science and an open mind. For years, it was received wisdom that ulcers were merely an adjunct of the urban condition -- stress, poor eating habits and so on. The treatment was to control the acid flow in the stomach through antacids and other anti-ulcer drugs.

But then, Australian scientists J. Marshall and Robin Warren discovered the Helicobacter pylori bacterium in the stomach and duodenum in 1981 and spent the next three years establishing that the bacterium caused ulcers. It took the two another ten years -- including an experiment when Marshall infected and then cured himself -- to convince the medical fraternity and scientists to treat the problem with antibiotics directed at H. pylori. It is a matter of some interest that H. pylori, whose presence in our system was only discovered in 1981, could also be the villain behind anorexia and bulimia. Both these were earlier assumed to be psychological problems caused, again, by stress. In recent years, breakthroughs in medical research have included the discovery of prions, a new family of infectious agents, and staggering findings in molecular biology, apart from advances in medical technology for diagnostics and treatment. It is a humbling thought that even as we are confronted with the threat of a `super flu' pandemic, we are still to win the war against the relatively simpler foe, bacteria.