A painful open sore or wound that forms on the skin or inside the body, often on the stomach lining.
From Latin "ulcus" meaning sore or wound, which may derive from Proto-Indo-European roots related to "wolf." The term entered English through Old French and has been used in medicine since medieval times.
Scientists once thought ulcers were caused by stress and spicy food, but in 1982 they discovered a bacterium called H. pylori was actually responsible—completely changing how we treat this painful condition!
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