Open AccessFatal Gastrointestinal Infection with ‘ Flexispira rappini ’‐Like Organisms in a Cat
Author(s) -
Kipar A.,
Weber M.,
Menger S.,
Harmsen D.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of veterinary medicine, series b
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1439-0450
pISSN - 0931-1793
DOI - 10.1046/j.1439-0450.2001.00461.x
Subject(s) - submucosa , biology , stomach , crypt , pathology , small intestine , enteritis , bacilli , helicobacter , infiltration (hvac) , lumen (anatomy) , large intestine , ileum , microbiology and biotechnology , helicobacter pylori , medicine , bacteria , physics , endocrinology , thermodynamics , biochemistry , genetics
A 4‐month‐old male British Blue cat with catarrhal to haemorrhagic enteritis showed massive colonization of the stomach, small intestine and caecum with spiral‐shaped bacilli. In the stomach, organisms were located in foveolae and gland lumina and within unaltered and degenerate epithelial cells. Inflammatory infiltration was moderate and T cell dominated. In the intestine, bacilli were found in the gut lumen, between villi, in crypt lumina and within epithelial cells. Degeneration of crypt epithelial cells as well as crypt dilation and moderate to massive macrophage‐dominated infiltration of the mucosa and submucosa were observed. Immunohistochemically, bacilli were positive with an antibody against Helicobacter . Ultrastructurally, the organisms strongly resembled ‘ Flexispira rappini ’, a spiral‐shaped Helicobacter species known as a normal intestinal colonizer in dogs and mice.