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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 1999, p. 189-194, Vol. 37, No. 1
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Healthy Cats Are Commonly Colonized with "Helicobacter heilmannii" That Is Associated with Minimal Gastritis

C. R. Norris,1 S. L. Marks,2,* K. A. Eaton,3 S. Z. Torabian,4 R. J. Munn,5 and J. V. Solnick4

Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital1 and Department of Medicine and Epidemiology,2 School of Veterinary Medicine, and Departments of Internal Medicine4 and Pathology,5 School of Medicine, University of California, Davis, California, and Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio3

Received 2 June 1998/Returned for modification 18 August 1998/Accepted 29 September 1998

Gastric Helicobacter infection in healthy pet cats is not well characterized. We performed endoscopy with gastric biopsy on 15 healthy pet cats that were rigorously screened to exclude underlying or concurrent diseases that might affect Helicobacter colonization. Gastric mucosa biopsy specimens were examined by histology, culture, and PCR for the presence of Helicobacter infection and by histology for the presence of gastritis. Of 15 cats, all but 1 had gastric Helicobacter-like organisms (GHLOs) on examination by light microscopy, and in the one histologically negative cat, GHLOs were detected by PCR. Gastric inflammation was mild or was absent for all cats. No Helicobacter species were identified by culture. Analysis of the 16S rRNA sequence from Helicobacter strains from 10 cats showed that all bacteria were closely related to Helicobacter felis, although there was heterogeneity among the sequences. These results suggest that the gastric mucosa of healthy pet cats is commonly colonized with an uncultivated Helicobacter that is closely related to H. felis, is associated with little or no gastritis, and shows heterogeneity in its 16S rRNA sequence. The epithet "Helicobacter heilmannii" continues to be an appropriate working designation for these bacteria.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616. Phone: (530) 752-1387. Fax: (530) 752-9620. E-mail: slmarks{at}ucdavis.edu.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, January 1999, p. 189-194, Vol. 37, No. 1
0095-1137/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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