Molecular Characterization of the 16S rRNA Gene of Helicobacter fennelliae Isolated from Stools and Blood Cultures from Paediatric Patients in South Africa
Forty strains of H. fennelliae collected from paediatric blood and stool samples over an 18 year period at a children's hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, were amplified by PCR of the 16S rRNA. Two distinct genotypes of H. fennelliae were identified based on the phylogenetic analysis. This was confirmed by sequencing a portion of the beta subunit of the RNA polymerase (rpoB) gene. All isolates from South Africa clustered with a proposed novel Helicobacter strain (accession number AF237612) isolated in Australia, while three H. fennelliae type strains from the northern hemisphere, NCTC 11612, LMG 7546 and CCUG 18820, formed a separate branch. A large (355bp) highly conserved intervening sequence (IVS) in the 16S rRNA was found in all isolates. Predicted secondary structures of the IVS from the 16S rRNA and 23S rRNA were characterised by a primary stem structure formed by base pairing of the 3′ and 5′ ends and internal loops and stems. This phylogenetic analysis is the largest undertaken of H. fennelliae. The South African H. fennelliae isolates are closely related to an Australian isolate previously reported to be a possible novel species of Helicobacter. This study suggests that the latter is strain of H. fennelliae. 1. Introduction Since the discovery of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) by Warren and Marshall in 1983 [1], more than 30 non-pylori-Helicobacter species have been described [2, 3]. To date, H. bizzozeronnii, H. canadensis, H. canis, H. cinaedi, H. fennelliae, H. felis, H. heilmannii, H. pullorum, H. rappini, H. salomonis, H. winghamensis, and H. westmeadii have been found in humans with gastritis, enteritis, and septicaemia [3–8]. H. fennelliae was first described in 1985 as a new Campylobacter species isolated from asymptomatic homosexual men with enteritis and proctitis [9]. This organism was subsequently reclassified as a Helicobacter species based on 23S rRNA hybridisation studies [10]. H. fennelliae is a fastidious organism and difficult to culture; thus, there are very few reports of the clinical relevance of the organism. In 2000, Tee et al. [11] described a novel species of Helicobacter isolated from the blood of a young aboriginal child with diarrhoea and vomiting which was most closely related to H. fennelliae. The authors proposed, this may be a new species of Helicobacter. From 1977 to 1990, the routine microbiological laboratories at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s and Groote Schuur Hospitals in Cape Town, South Africa used a variety of antibiotic-containing media plates and standard microaerophilic atmospheric growth
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