Helicobacter

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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.
  • 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.