"Helicobacter-like'' bacteria in the stomach of a dog with gastritis. Casereport

The authors report the first occurrence of "Helicobacter-like'' bacteria in the gastric mucosa of a dog in Hungary. During autopsy, a 360 degrees twis t of the enteral loops was diagnosed. In the fundic and pyloric regions of the gastric mucosa there were several small haemorrhagic ulcers. Despite of the severe chronic active gastritis with the development of several lympho cyte aggregates (Fig. 1) the dog had not shown any sign of the disease prev iously. Yet its companion, a seven-year-old boxer bitch had often been vomi ting after meals for a long time. Histopathology revealed that the gastric mucosa above the lymphocyte aggregates was atrophic (Fig. 2) and that there were also micro-abscesses (Fig. 3) in the lumen of a few gastric glands. O n the surface of the mucosa and in the lumen of the glands there were numer ous "Helicobacter-like'' (Fig. 3) bacteria visible. There were also a few r ecent ulcers in the basis of which there were lymphocyte aggregates of vari ous sizes. In the ulcers there were intact as well as damaged "Helicobacter -like'' bacteria shown (Fig. 7). With light microscopy, two morphologic typ es of "Helicobacter-like'' bacteria could be distinguished: type I was less undulated, thicker and primarily situated in the lumen of the glands, wher eas type II had more frequent undulations, was thinner and was primarily si tuated on the mucosal surface (Fig. 4). During immuno-histological examinat ion the polyclonal rabbit anti-Helicobacter pylori antibodies bound equally well to the bacteria on the surface, in the foveolae as well as in the gas tric glands (Fig. 5). There was positive immuno-histological reaction noted in a few parietal cells (Fig. 6). The authors suggest a possible effect of auto-immune processes due to the infection with "Helicobacter-like'' bacte ria in the pathomechanism of gastritis. They conclude that further investig ations are needed to elucidate the link between the presence of "Helicobact er-like'' bacteria; and the resultant gastritis.