Helicobacter anseris sp. nov. and Helicobacter brantae sp. nov., isolated from feces of resident Canada geese in the greater Boston area

Abstract

Numbers of nonmigratory Canada geese have increased substantially in the past decade, and they have become a nuisance in some urban areas. Because of their close contact with humans in parks and areas adjacent to surface waterways, contact with their feces poses a zoonotic risk. A total of 97 geese from 10 separate geographic locales in the greater Boston area had their feces sampled for detection of Helicobacter spp. Identification of Helicobacter spp. based on 16S rRNA genus-specific helicobacter primers was noted in 39 of 97 (40.2%) DNA fecal extracts. Twenty-seven (27.8%) of these geese had helicobacters isolated from their feces. A urease-positive novel species, Helicobacter anseris, based on phenotypic, biochemical, and 16S rRNA analyses, was isolated from 20 geese from seven different flocks. A second, novel, urease-negative Helicobacter sp., H. brantae, was identified in seven geese. Four geese had both novel Helicobacter spp. cultured from their feces. Whether these two novel helicobacters pose a zoonotic risk, similar to other enteric helicobacters (e.g., H. canadensis, previously isolated from diarrheic and bacteremic humans and from geese in Europe), will require further studies.

FIG. 1.

H. anseris, a slightly curved rod with subterminal sheathed flagella.

FIG. 2.

H. brantae, a curved rod with subterminal sheathed flagella. Bar = 0.5 μm.

FIG. 3.

Phylogenetic tree constructed on the basis of 16S rRNA sequence similarity values. The scale bar is equal to a 3% difference in nucleotide sequences, as determined by measuring the lengths of the horizontal lines connecting two species.

FIG. 4.

Phylogenetic tree constructed on the basis of 23S rRNA sequence similarity values. The scale bar is equal to a 4% difference in nucleotide sequences, as determined by measuring the lengths of the horizontal lines connecting two species.