Well, a lot of people have Helicobacter without problems - but if they have problems and H. pylori is present, I think it wise to try to get rid of it and keep checking on the problem. Do doctors no longer believe in an ounce of prevention?

This may be debatable as overuse of medicines, leading to resistant strains of various bacteria, but I don't off-hand see much else against getting rid of something known to cause problems. After all, if I understand the case properly, AIDs has never killed anyone - it just allows otherwise minor and treatable illnesses to escalate until the victim dies. So why bother getting rid of it, since it is not the actual disease at fault for death?

Analogy may not make for good argument or debate, but it is the way my mind works - sorry 'bout that, but not sorry enough to stop...