Incidence of Helicobacter felis and the Effect of Coinfection with Helicobacter pylori on the Gastric Mucosa in the African Population

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori and Helicobacter felis are two of the Helicobacter spp. that infect humans. H. pylori has been linked to significant gastric pathology. Coinfection with Helicobacter spp. may influence infectious burden, pathogenesis, and antibiotic resistance; however, this has not been studied. The aims of this study were to identify the incidence of H. felis and to analyze the effects of coinfection with both organisms on gastric pathology in a well-characterized South African population. Biopsy samples from the gastric corpora and antra of volunteers (n ‫؍‬ 90) were subjected to histological examination and PCR for the identification of H. pylori and H. felis. We further investigated the effect of global strain type on the occurrence of precursor lesions by assigning nucleotide sequences derived from PCR amplification of three genes to global groupings (ancestral Africa1, ancestral Africa2, ancestral Europe, ancestral Asia, and mixed). H. pylori was detected in 75 (83.3%), H. felis in 23 (25.6%), and coinfection in 21 (23.3%) of the volunteers by PCR. H. felis was randomly distributed among adults and children but clustered within families, suggesting intrafamilial transmission. Analysis of histopathology scores revealed no differences in atrophy, activity, and helicobacter density between H. felispositive and H. felis-negative volunteers. H. pylori substrains common to southern Africa showed no differences in inflammation or atrophy scores. The incidences of H. felis and coinfection with H. pylori in the African population are high. H. felis infection, however, does not influence specific gastric pathology in this population.

A Population Genetics Pedigree Perspective on the Transmission of Helicobacter pylori

“…These population statistics indicate that the study population is sufficiently replicated for the proposed analysis since each of the 23 households have their own reticulated water supply, and most have flushing toilets. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the University of Pretoria and the Hospital Review board of the Unitas hospital (Fritz et al 2006;Olivier et al 2006). Endoscopy was performed in 90 individuals.…”

“…Sampling and gene sequencing: The study population comprised 105 healthy individuals, for which extensive pedigree information was available (supplemental Figure 1 at http:/ /www.genetics.org/supplemental/), from a rural, South African, black community (Ogies, Mpumulanga) who have been followed as part of a long-term surveillance program on the epidemiology of H. pylori (Goosen et al 2002;Fritz et al 2006;Olivier et al 2006). This population had many of the risk factors that are associated with a high prevalence of H. pylori infection (Bunn et al 2002;Suerbaum and Michetti 2002).…”

A South African perspective on Helicobacter pylori: Prevalence, epidemiology and antimicrobial chemotherapy

“…On the contrary, prevalence as low as approximately 3% was reported in specimens obtained from the oral cavity in another study in Pretoria (Goosen et al, 2002). Although a number of studies have demonstrated the role of gastro-oral, iatrogenic, sexual transmissions, horizontal transfer and intrafamilial clustering (Brown, 2000;Eslick, 2000;2002;Delport et al, 2006;Fritz et al, 2006;Kast, 2007) in the transmission of H. pylori; no studies have been done in South Africa to ascertain the role of these routes in the transmission of the organism.…”

“…In another study, Samie et al (2007) described a prevalence of 50.6% among children <5 years old in their study in Thohoyandou, North of South Africa. Fritz et al (2006) used the ureB and glmM genes to delineate the incidence of Helicobacter felis and the effect of coinfection with H. pylori in a prevalence study in South Africa, reporting a high prevalence of the organism [83.3% (ureB) and 78.9% (glmM)] linked to these genes. Tanih et al (2010a) examined H. pylori infection in patients with gastric-related morbidities in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, reporting an overall prevalence of 66.1% (168/254).…”

Development and Application of a Novel Peptide Nucleic Acid Probe for the Specific Detection of Helicobacter pylori in Gastric Biopsy Specimens

“…In the future, the PNA FISH procedure can be adapted to identify H. pylori in locations other than the stomach, detect antibiotic-resistant strains (22), and study possible interactions between different H. pylori strains colonizing the same individual or between H. pylori and other Helicobacter spp. that are known to inhabit the human gastrointestinal tract (9,26).…”