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Helicobacter Helicobacter spp. are spiral-shaped bacteria that inhabit the stomach and have the potential to cause gastritis and gastric ulcer disease in animals. Infections may be asymptomatic or may have mild clinical signs. There is also information in the human literature suggesting that infection may predispose to gastric carcinoma or gastric lymphoma. Clinical findings may include chronic vomiting, weight loss, abdominal pain, and inappetance. Endoscopy can reveal abnormalities that are suspicious for Helicobacter infection. Diagnosis can be achieved by biopsy of the gastrointestinal tract in which can be found spiral shaped bacteria. Because spiral bacteria are present in normal animals, exclusion of all other diagnoses and confirmation of typical pathologic changes in addition to the organism are necessary before a diagnosis of Helicobacter gastritis can be made. Treatment with bismuth and 2 antibiotics (usually metronidazole and amoxycillin) is usually effective. The use of antacids can improve the effectiveness of the antibiotics. Whereas therapy has proven successful in treatment of Helicobacter infection (negative testing and improvement of clinical signs), recurrence is a problem to some degree. |
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