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Overview
- Related to Campylobacter species and Arcobacter species
- A bacterial pathogen of the intestines
- Discovered in the stomach of humans in 1987
- H. felis, H. bizzozeronii, H. salomonis and H. bilis found in gastric mucosa and intestines of dogs and cats
Characteristics
- Helical, S-shaped or curved Gram negative rods
- Require enriched media; some grow on Skirrow agar
- Microaerophilic, non-saccharolytic
- Oxidase positive and catalase positive except for H. canis
- Helicobacters which colonise gastric mucosa are urease positive
Clinical infections
- Helicobacter pylori causes gastritis and duodenal and gastric ulcers in humans
- Association with gastric adenocarcinoma in humans
- H. mustelae has been associated with chronic gastritis and gastric ulcers in ferrets
- Significance in gastrointestinal diseases of domestic carnivores not known
- Carried in the stomach of a high proportion of people.
- 60% in the elderly.
- Implicated in the development of peptic ulcers and gastritis in people.
- Strong epidemiological evidence for the involvement of H. pylori in human gastric neoplasia.
- No evidence this is the case for animals.
- Several species demonstrated in dogs: H. felis, H. bizzozeronii, H. salomonis and H. bilis.
- Present in around 80% of clinically healthy pet dogs.
- Up to 100% in dogs from animal shelters.
- Present in around 80% of clinically healthy pet dogs.
- Experimental infection of dogs has failed to show a consistent relationship between infection with Helicobacter and pathology.
- Inflammation accompanies infection in some but not all infected dogs.