Your experience of helicobacter in dogs please...

Re: Your experience of helicobacter in dogs please...

Richard Fox — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:33:03 GMT

Very good summation by Ian - sorry I was being lazy - Its one of those things - just because bacteria are there doesn't mean they are a primary problem or actually a clinical problem.

Re: Your experience of helicobacter in dogs please...

elizabethellison — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:05:16 GMT

Thank you both for your replies. I have 'inherited' this case - it was originally worked up by a colleague, so I will look further into the biopsies.

Re: Your experience of helicobacter in dogs please...

Ian Battersby — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:17:46 GMT

HI Liz,

Helicobacter infection causing clinical signs in dogs and cats is an area which requires more understanding at the moment .

There are lots of different helicobacter species ( about 30 ish) and the pathogenicity of different strains is unknown. H. pylori is the species that affects humans and causes more of an inflammatory reaction compare to other helicobacter species. To speciate a spirobacteria you need EM or PCR so was it helicobacter like organisms seen or did they say it was h pylori as this would be unsual in a dog and hard to call on a standard section. i think there are reports of an infection with h pylori from a owner to a cat but without checking the literature i could not say about dogs.

The hard thing is to determine if to treat or not and weather the organisms is causing a problem. Could you provide the histo in a bit more detail as generally i only start to pay attention to spirobacteria on a gastric biopsy if the organism is in the gastric pits. Even then it can occur at the same time as other diseases, and the treatment which is ABi plus a antacid ( usually proton pump hibitor ) may cause an improvement in alot of other bowel disorders. So with that in mind i treat if i can't find a concurrent disease.

Certainly in the studies performed to date alot of helicpbacter infections return and often clinical signs may not present. There are also studies showing that helicobacter like organisms can be present in normal dogs and cats with no clinical signs. Which brings us back to the pathogenicity question, is it the primary problem or not. As yet we dont know. In humans certainly h pylori can cause ulcers but i am not aware of documented convincing cases of a helicobacter infection causing an ulcer in a dog or cat. So given this dog has vomited blood and depending on your biopsy description i would keep it in the back of my mind that something else may be going on.

Did you get intestinal biopsies as well. ??

Hope that is of help

Ian

Re: Your experience of helicobacter in dogs please...

Richard Fox — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:01:48 GMT

[quote user="liz ellison"]

The nurse at our practice has a FN dachschund who was diagnosed with helicobacter pylori after gastric biopsies following several intermittent, recurrent episodes of vomitting, sometimes with blood, and abdo pain.

[/quote]

That depends on whether they were a primary and not a secondary problem?

Studies of distribution and recurrence of Helicobacter spp. gastric mucosa of dogs after triple therapy.

Anacleto TP, Lopes LR, Andreollo NA, Bernis Filho WO, Resck MC, Macedo A.

Faculty of Medical Sciences, UNICAMP, Campinas, SP, Brazil.

Abstract

PURPOSE: To analyze the triple antimicrobial therapy in positive Helicobacter spp. dogs and to investigate recurrence.

METHODS: A total of 20 dogs underwent endoscopy followed by gastric biopsy using the rapid urease test and histopathology stained with Giemsa. Ten animals were treated with triple therapy recommended for humans and divided into control and experimental group. The control group was kept in isolation while the experimental group was placed in contact with positive animals during 60 days.

RESULTS: The prevalence of infection in animals in this experiment was 100%, and more frequent in the fundus and the gastric body. Therapy for 7 days using clarithromycin, amoxicillin and lansoprazole was effective in 100% of the animals. Recurrence of the infection in 80% of dogs in the experimental group, while the control group remained eradicated after 60 days.

CONCLUSION: Crowded environments associated with close contact with dogs infected with helicobacter are a determinant for transmission of Helicobacter spp. between canines.