HUMAN AND PET HELICOBACTERIOSIS - FEW COM PARATIVE DATA

The role of Helicobacter pylori in generating of the chronic gastritis and in the maintaining of the gastroduodenal ulcerous disease, has be en a major medical discovery of these past years in human gastroentero logy. More recently in Man, studies have showed that the gastric tumou rs (adenocarcinoma, lymphoma) are epidemiologically associated with th e H. pylori infection. Although the H. pylori infection is the one of the most frequent in the word, the epidemiologic and ecologic aspects of this infection are still not very well known. Thanks to phylogenic studies using the new molecular biology techniques and to fundamental experimental studies, we know more about helicobacteria in domestic ca rnivores as well as their morphologic characteristic their taxonomia a nd more importantly details concerning their ecological niche. Few cli nical studies have been made to this day, but the ones that have been undertaken are interesting in confirming the extensive prevalence of H elicobacter infections in domestic carnivores and in underlining their role in the genesis of the inflammatory gastropathies observed in the se species. Recent observations have demonstrated the ubiquitous chara cter of these helicobacteria by showing their presence in the stomach of man, dogs and cats. This ubiquitous character has led some scientis ts to consider the potential zoonotic risk of the human infection by H elicobacter heilmannii, felis oi pylori. Finally, the Helicobacter inf ection of animals seems to be an interesting model not only in the stu dy of the affections caused by these bacteria, but also in the elabora tion of a future vaccine against the H. pylori infection in man.