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Survey of Helicobacter infection in domestic and feral cats in Korea |
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| Authors: | Heh-Myung Ghil Jong-Hyeon Yoo Woo-Sung Jung Tae-Ho Chung Hwa-Young Youn Cheol-Yong Hwang |
| Affiliation: | 1Department of Veterinary Internal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.;2KRF Priority Zoonotic Disease Research Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea.;3BK21 Program of Integrative Network Systems for Veterinarians in Basic Science, Industrial Animals and Preventive Medicine, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, Korea. |
| Abstract: | Discovery of Helicobacter (H.) pylori has led to a fundamental change in our understanding of gastric diseases in humans. Previous studies have found various Helicobacter spp. in dogs and cats, and pets have been questioned as a zoonotic carrier. The present study surveyed the Helicobacter infections and investigated the presence of H. felis and H. pylori infections in domestic and feral cats in Korea. Sixty-four domestic cats and 101 feral cats were selected from an animal shelter. Saliva and feces were evaluated by Helicobacter genus-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Genus-specific PCR positive samples were further evaluated for H. felis and H. pylori using specific primer pairs. Thirty-six of 64 (56.3%) samples from domestic cats and 92 of 101 (91.1%) samples from feral cats were PCR positive; the positive rate of feces samples was higher than that of saliva samples in both groups. H. felis and H. pylori species-specific PCR was uniformly negative. The prevalence of Helicobacter spp. in feral cats was approximately two-fold higher than that of domestic cats. The fecal-oral route may be more a common transmission route not only between cats but also in humans. |
| Keywords: | cat Helicobacter prevalence zoonosis |