Association of tightly spiraled bacterial infection and gastritis in pigs.

Tightly spiral bacteria were observed only in the pyloric mucosa of 4 (8.0%) of 50 swine stomachs, mainly in the surface of epithelia, the gastric pits and the lumen of gastric glands. The presence of the spiral bacteria was significantly associated with chronic pyloric gastritis (p<0.05). Mean gastritis score of the bacteria-positive pyloric mucosa was 3.25 +/- 0.25, whereas that of the bacteria-negative pyloric mucosa was 2.37 +/- 0.12. Parakeratosis and hyperkeratosis were spontaneously seen in the mucosa layer of pars oesophagea, regardless of the bacterial infection. Marked infiltration of mononuclear cells and granulocytes were seen in the cardiac mucosa, regardless of the bacterial infection. Mean gastritis score of the bacteria-positive cardiac mucosa was 3.27 +/- 0.32, whereas that of the bacteria-negative cardiac mucosa was 2.84 +/- 0.13. There was no significant difference between the bacteria-positive and negative cardiac mucosa (p>0.05). Inflammatory response in the fundic mucosa was rare (gastritis score=0.75 +/- 0.08). The tightly spiraled bactera were not cultured with various culture media. These results suggest that the presence of tightly spiraled bacteria is associated with only the pyloric gastritis in pigs.