Coinfection of Enteric Helicobacter spp. and Campylobacter spp. in Cats

Abstract

During a 6-year period, 64 of 227 commercially reared cats had microaerobic bacteria isolated from their feces. All the isolates were initially identified as Campylobacter-like organisms based on biochemical and phenotypic characteristics. DNA extractions from 51 of these isolates were subjected to PCR using primers specific for Helicobacter spp. and Campylobacter spp. Of the isolates, 92% (47 of 51 isolates) were positive for Campylobacter spp., 41% (21 of 51 isolates) were positive for Helicobacter spp., 33% (17 of 51 isolates) were positive for both genera, 59% (30 of 51 isolates) were positive only for Campylobacter spp., and 8% (4 of 51) were positive only for Helicobacter spp. Sixteen of the 47 Campylobacter-positive cultures were positive for more than one Campylobacter spp. Based on a species-specific PCR assay, 83% of the isolates were identified as Campylobacter helveticus, 47% of the isolates were identified as Campylobacter upsaliensis, and 6% of the isolates were classified as Campylobacter jejuni. The 1.2-kb PCR products of the 16S rRNA genes of 19 Helicobacter species isolates were subjected to restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. Of the five different RFLP patterns obtained, two clustered with Helicobacter ("Flexispira") taxon 8, one clustered with Helicobacter bilis, one clustered with Helicobacter canis, and the remaining pattern was closely related to a novel Helicobacter sp. strain isolated from a woodchuck. The sequence data for the 16S rRNA genes of 10 Helicobacter spp. validated the RFLP-based identification of these isolates. This study demonstrated that biochemical and phenotypic characteristics of microaerobic organisms in cat feces were insufficient to characterize mixed Helicobacter and Campylobacter infections. Molecular structure-based diagnostics using genus-and speciesspecific PCR, RFLP analysis, and 16S rRNA sequence analysis enabled the identification of multiple microaerobic species in individual animals. The clinical relevance of enteric Helicobacter and Campylobacter coinfection in cats will require further studies.Cats are recognized reservoirs for enteric Campylobacter spp., including Campylobacter jejuni, Campylobacter coli, Campylobacter upsaliensis, and Campylobacter helveticus (5,13,20,37,58). C. jejuni and C. coli are among the most frequently encountered human enteric pathogens worldwide (2, 3). C. upsaliensis, a catalase-negative or weakly positive Campylobacter sp. initially isolated from diarrheic or nondiarrheic domestic dogs and cats (20,48), has also been associated with enteritis (25, 44, 55) and bacteremia (31, 39, 44) in humans. More-serious illnesses, including spontaneous abortion and hemolytic-uremic syndrome, have also been reported for a human infected with C. upsaliensis (27). Campylobacter infections, particularly C. jejuni infections, are zoonotic and are a particular problem among puppies and kittens from shelters (13, 18, 45). C. helveticus, which is closely related to C. upsaliensis, has also been isolated from domestic cats an...

Helicobacter marmotae and novel Helicobacter and Campylobacter species isolated from the livers and intestines of prairie dogs

“…This finding of co-infection is not surprising given that enteric helicobacters are often found in hosts coinfected with Campylobacter species. For example, 64/227 commercially reared cats had microaerophilic bacteria isolated from their faeces that were initially identified as Campylobacter-like organisms based on biochemical and phenotypic characteristics (Shen et al, 2001). DNA extractions were subjected to PCR using primers specific for Helicobacter species and Campylobacter species.…”

“…Helicobacter genus-specific primers C97 and C05 and Campylobacter genus-specific primers C98 and C99 were used to amplify a 1.2 kb and a 420 bp PCR fragment, respectively, as described previously (Fox et al, 1998;Shen et al, 2001).…”

“…The plates were incubated at 37 uC under microaerobic conditions as described previously (Fox et al, 2006). A detailed biochemical characterization analysis was performed on selected isolates of Campylobacter species and Helicobacter species as described previously (Shen et al, 2001).…”

“…The goal of this study was to determine whether Helicobacter species could be isolated from the gastrointestinal tract and/or liver of prairie dogs, which are used as models to study gallbladder physiology because of the similarities of prairie dog and human bile gallstone composition. It is also recognized that Helicobacter species co-colonize with a variety of Campylobacter species in the intestines of humans, dogs and cats (Fox et al, 1995;Lastovica & le Roux, 2000;Rossi et al, 2008;Shen et al, 2001). We therefore asked whether Campylobacter species could also be identified in the gastrointestinal tract of prairie dogs.…”

Isolation ofCampylobacter FetusSubspeciesFetusin a Two-Year-Old Quarterhorse with Chronic Diarrhea of an Undetermined Etiology

“…Campylobacter genus-specific primers that amplify a 280-base pair product on the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene were used as previously described. 18 Amplification of the 16S rRNA cistrons, gene sequencing of 16S rRNA, and analysis of the 16S rRNA data were performed as described previously. 5,15 For alignment, the 16S rRNA gene sequences were entered into a database that contains more than 600 sequences for Helicobacter, Wolinella, Arcobacter, and Campylobacter strains and more than 2,000 sequences for other bacteria.…”