Better Pork - 2016 December

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Better Pork December 2016 31
tory and traced, not just ulcers, but
also stomach cancers associated with
the gut bacteria. The bacterium was
subsequently named Helicobacter
pylori.
Drs. Marshall and Warren pre-
sented their findings at medical con-
ferences in Australia and around the
world. The researchers were met with
universal skepticism and dismissive-
ness from gastroenterologists who
tenaciously held on to the dogma
that gastric ulcers in humans were
caused by stress.
Unable to convince the medical
establishment, Dr. Marshall grew
desperate. He cultured H. pylori from
the gut of a patient with a stomach
ulcer, made a broth and drank it.
Over the next few days he developed
gastritis, the precursor to a gastric ul-
cer. He started vomiting and became
very sick.
Dr. Marshall biopsied his own
stomach, and cultured H. pylori
from the stomach wall, thus proving
that those bacteria were the cause of
stomach ulcers. With the identifica-
tion of a bacterium as the cause of
stomach ulcers, a cure was imme-
diately available – antibiotics! This
allowed microbiologists to take the
lead on the management of gastric
ulcers in humans.
The medical establishment now
paid attention. For their work on H.
pylori, Drs. Marshall and Warren
were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize
in Physiology or Medicine in 2005.
Since their discovery of H. pylori,
the standard care for gastric ulcers is
treatment with an antibiotic. Stom-
ach cancer, once one of the most
common forms of cancer, is almost
gone from the western world.
Since this trail-blazing discovery
of H. pylori in humans, the hunt has
been on to find if similar bacteria are
present in gastric ulcers in pigs. Yes,
similar bacteria have been found in
the stomach wall of pigs with gas-
tric ulcer. The bacteria, however,
are usually located at the distal end
of the stomach (the pyloric region),
far from the esophageal area where
stomach ulcers are located in pigs.
Consequently, these bacteria are less
likely to be the cause of gastric ulcers
in pigs. (In contrast, similar bacteria
are located adjacent to the site of the
stomach ulcers in humans.)
Is Fusobacteriumgastrosuis the cause of
gastric ulcers in pigs?
Two features about Fusobacterium
gastrosuis which put it in somewhat
favourable light as the possible cause
of gastric ulcers in pigs are:
• The bacteria of the genus Fuso-
bacterium are usually pathogenic,
meaning they are disease-causing
bacteria, and
• The bacteria is located in the area of
the stomach that is close to the site
of gastric ulcers in pigs.
Although these are encouraging
features, they do not prove conclu-
sively that this Fusobacterium gas-
trosuis is indeed the cause of gastric
ulcers in swine. That proof will have
to be determined over time. BP
S. Ernest Sanford, DVM, Dip Path,
Diplomate ACVP, is a Swine Veteri-
nary Consultant based in London, Ont.
HERDHEALTH
rakijung/Creative RF/Getty Images photo
Causes of gastric ulcers can include: finely-ground pelleted feed,
delayed or interrupted feed consumption, hot weather and
disease outbreaks.