title: Detection of Helicobacter species in the gastrointestinal tract of wild rodents from Brazil.
abstract: Since we have limited knowledge about the occurrence of Helicobacter in wild animals, we searched for Helicobacter species in the gastrointestinal tract of 75 rodents captured in forest remnants of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Fragments from the antrum and corpus of the stomach and from the colon were taken for PCR assays for Helicobacter detection. Although gastric mucosa was Helicobacter-positive in only one animal, the bacterium was detected in the colonic mucosa of 23 rodents (30.7%). Helicobacter detection was more frequent in the colon of terraced rice rat (56%) and house rat (30%) in contrast to punare and Spix's yellow-toothed cavy, in which the presence of the bacterium was not detected. Helicobacter rodentium, H. marmotae, H. cinaedi, and other species closely related to the murine helicobacters were presumptively identified by DNA sequencing. Wild rodents may serve as a reservoir of these Helicobacter species in nature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, MG, CEP 31.270-901, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luíza B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Comunian
authors.forename: Sílvia B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Moura
authors.forename: Adriano P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Paglia
authors.forename: Jacques R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Nicoli
authors.forename: Juliana B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Guerra
authors.forename: Gifone A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Rocha
authors.forename: Dulciene M M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Queiroz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology*; D016998:Helicobacter / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012377:Rodentia / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA