Helicobacteriose em cães: diagnóstico molecular e histopatológico

Abstract

Helicobacteriosis is considered one of the most common infections in humans, with a frequency ranging from 20 to 80% according to the health conditions of each country. In dogs, high rates of prevalence of this infection have been reported, but the correlation between the presence of the bacteria and the histopathological lesions present in the gastric mucosa has not been clarified. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and diagnose, by means of histopathological and molecular techniques, helicobacteriosis in necropsied dogs. Gastric samples were collected from 25 dogs from the Sanitary Surveillance Unit of Zoonoses in the municipality of São Luis, of different breeds and ages, male and female, with no previous clinical history. Histological and molecular analyzes were performed and their results compared with the relationship between infection by gender and lesions present in the gastric mucosa. The results of the histopathological analyzes revealed that 24 of the animals (96%) had at least one histopathological lesion in the stomach, using Hematoxylin and Eosin staining, while 84% of the samples had bacteria-like organisms by the right method, using Giemsa and 96% were positive in at least one of the species studied by real-time molecular analysis. Co-infection by H. felis, H. bizzozeronii and H. salomonis was present in 92% of the animals. We concluded that histopathological lesions, as well as the presence of the bacterium, were frequent in gastric samples of dogs, however, associating these results, there was no expressive relationship. Still, due to the high rate of infection and its zoonotic potential, treatment is recommended for animals, even those that do not show symptoms related to the infection, due to the risk of transmission between different species.