Isolation of Pure Populations of Helicobacter heilmannii-like Bacteria

Abstract

Large spiral bacteria similar in morphology to Helicobacter felis are common in the stomachs of many animal species including cats, dogs, pigs, non-human primates, and a variety of wild carnivores.^{1, 3–5, 8} These bacteria, first referred to as spirilla,^{5, 10} and later as Gastrospirillum sp,⁶ are most likely members of the helicobacter genus. Several isolates have been given the provisional name, H. heilmannii. ⁹ They are not culturable in vitro, however, and speciation has been limited to PCR amplification and sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes in infected gastric scrapings.⁹ Thus, study of these bacteria is hindered by the lack of pure populations free from contaminating bacteria and other debris.