Histological changes in stomachs of apparently healthy dogs infected with helicobacter

Abstract

The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence and the intensity of infection with Helicobacter sp. in a group of 23 apparently healthy dogs in order to describe the morphological features of Helicobacters, to detect histopathological changes in the gastric mucosa and to evaluate if there is a correlation between infection and eventual alterations in the stomach. Helicobacters were detected in the stomach of all dogs: they were spirally shaped with five to twelve turns. According to the difference in width and length between the turns we formed a group resembling H. salomonis and H. heilmannii and a group resembling H. felis and H. bizzozeronii. The width of the narrower spiral bacteria, resembling H. felis and H. bizzozeronii, varied from 0.29 to 0.5 pm and the length between the turns was 0.4 p.m. The wider, "screw-like" bacteria, which resembled H. salomonis and Helicobacter heilmannii had numerous turns and measured from 0.55 to 0.72 pm, whereas the length between turns varied from 0.55 to 0.95 pm. Helicobacters were present in all examined parts of the stomach, i.e. in the fundus, corpus and antrum at equal density. They colonised the gastric mucus, gastric pits and gastric glands. A mild and a moderate infection in 13% of the dogs and a severe infection in 74% of the dogs was determined. Only a mild chronic gastritis was diagnosed in the gastric fundus in 16 dogs, of gastric corpus in 18 dogs and in the antral region in 18 dogs. We concluded that gastritis is not directly linked to the helicobacter infection in our dogs.