Assessment of Non-Pylori Helicobacter Species in Stray Dog’s Stomach as a Potential Reservoir for Human Infections

Abstract

Backgrounds and Objectives: Helicobacter is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria with a characteristic helix shape. Today, a large number of non -H. pylori Helicobacter species in a wide variety of animals and humans have been described. Except helicobacter pylori, Non-pylori Helicobacter species has also been associated with some gastric problems such as gastritis, peptic ulceration and Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue (MALT) lymphoma in the human. However, due to the lack of sufficient researches on this subject in Iran, the main purpose of this study is scrutiny of these microorganisms on human health and the prevalence of Non-pylori Helicobacters in stray dogs as a reservoir for these microorganisms in Iran. Materials and Methods: In this study, 55 healthy stray dogs (randomly) were used. For evaluation of the general health condition of the dogs, 0.5ml of blood collected from the cephalic vein and evaluated after staining. The dogs were anesthetized and samples were collected from stomach by gastroscopy. Infection confirmed by a positive urease test and studied by Giemsa staining and using light microscopic routs. Results & Conclusions: In gastric samples, non-pylori helicobacter spp., have been observed. 87.5% of samples were positive for urease test. In light microscopic studies (we observed some spiral gram negative bacteria with 2-7 coils), 80% of samples were positive. Therefore the prevalence of helicobacter can vary from 80 to 87.5% in stray dogs. Among the investigated specimens, 25 specimens were contaminated along with several species of Helicobacter. It should be noted that, it is not possible to identify the species by using light microscopy.