Since the seventeenth century a variety of bismuth compounds and salts have been used in medicine to alleviate different disorders. In this century they were used to treat syphilis, as diuretics, as antihypertensives, and for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. Recently, renewed interest in some of these compounds has arisen due to the discovery that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, apparently responsible for chronic gastritis and peptic ulcers, can be effectively inhibited by certain bismuth compounds, both in vitro and in vivo.