Helicobacters have wide host diversity due to the their particular virulence and environmental factors and may cause infections in humans. As they live in and around the stomach the group is called as gastric helicobacters which particularly consists of Helicobacter pylori and Helicobacter heilmanni, Helicobacter felis, Helicobacter salomonis and many other species, as well. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate 195 patients (119 urban and 76 rural residents, 121 female and 74 male individuals between 18 and 93 years of age) in terms of gastric Helicobacter(H.pylori, H.felis and H.heilmanii) who have admitted to the Health Research and Application Center of Kafkas University Endoscopy Unit of the General Surgery Department with the complaints of abdominal pain. For this purpose, biopsy specimens obtained from various parts of the stomach (corpus and antrum) by endoscopy were analyzed with histopathological examination and PCR. Histopathological analysis sections were stained with May-Grunwald-Giemsa and spiral-shaped helicobacters attached to the surface of the epithelium were investigated. For the direct analysis of Helicobacter in biopsy samples, 16S rRNA gene based genus-specific and urease B gene based species-specific PCR methods were used. Out of the 195 cases that were histopathologically evaluated 163 (83.58%) were found to be positive for gastric Helicobacter, while five were suspected and 27 were negative. Helicobacter spp. DNA were detected in 107 (54.87%) samples, of these samples 91 were histopathologically positive, 13 were negative and three were suspicious samples. Eighty seven (44.61%) of the samples were identified as H.pylori by species-specific PCR. H.felis and H.heilmannii could not be detected in any of the samples; meanwhile genus-specific PCR positive 20 samples were not identified. In this study, 42.85% of the individuals living in urban area and 47.36% of those living in rural area were identified as H.pylori positive. 46.28% of women and 41.89% of men were positive for H.pylori. The age range of H.pylori positive individuals were as follows: 60% of the individuals were between 15-24 years, 60.27% of the individuals were between 25-44 years, 34.66% of the individuals were between 45-64 years and 29.72% of the individuals were 65 and over. 42.64% of the cat or dog owners were found as H.pylori positive whereas H.pylori was positive in 45.66% of the individuals who do not own animals. No significant relationship was found between these determinants and the prevalence of the disease (p> 0.05). However, the positivity of H.pylori was higher in the 25-44 active working age group due to the increased agent exposure (p< 0.05). This study is the first study on the prevalence of H.pylori in humans and analysis of possible risk factors in the region and hoped to provide useful information for the researchers working in this field.

Zoonoses are frequently associated with wild animals. Research on reptiles either living in their natural habitat or kept as pet animals has shown that these animals frequently serve as the asymptomatic hosts of bacterial zoonotic agents, including Salmonella spp. and Escherichia coli. Studies have shown the potential of reptiles to transmit these pathogens to humans and other animals. Epidemiological research on the herpetofauna of various regions has demonstrated the high potential of reptiles as a reservoir of Salmonella spp. In the present study, Salmonella spp. were not isolated or identified from the snake-eyed lizard. Out of 150 cloacal swab samples of snake-eyed lizard 25 (16.7%) E. coli were isolated and out of these 4 (2.7%) were identified to be E. coli O157:H7 by PCR. The results suggest that Ophisops elegans could be involved in the transmission of E. coli, rather than Salmonella spp. This study demonstrates for the first time that the snake-eyed lizard acts as a cloacal carrier of E. coli O157:H7 and presents data that may aid in preventing the transmission of this strain to humans.

Sheep caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) causes significant economic losses in the livestock sector by causing a loss in the quantity and quality of animal products and a loss in the breeding value of animals. Although the primary agent in CLA’s etiology is Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, some other opportunistic microorganisms also play a role. Therefore, the control and treatment of CLA necessitates the identification of the relevant etiological agents. This study aimed to conduct an in vitro culture and molecular characterization (PCR analysis and 16S rRNA sequencing) of the bacteria involved in sheep CLA cases reported in the Çankırı province of Türkiye and determine the antibiotic susceptibility of the case isolates. In total, 82 (16.4%) of 500 sheep in five farms were diagnosed with CLA. Following the culture of the superficial abscesses samples, C. pseudotuberculosis was identified in 30 (36.59%) as a result of PCR, Pseudomonas spp. in 8 (9.76%), and Enterobacter cancerogenus in 1 (1.22%), as a result of 16S rRNA sequencing. These data revealed extensive heterogeneity among the Pseudomonas isolates, with hints of derivation from a common ancestry for some and phylogenetic similarity to isolates from Germany, Malaysia, and India. In contrast to the high susceptibility to cefoperazone and lincomycin, the high resistances of C. pseudotuberculosis and Pseudomonas spp. isolates to cephalothin, ceftiofur, cloxacillin, amoxicillin, and bacitracin were remarkable. Based on these findings, it was concluded that for an effective treatment and control of ovine CLA cases, there is a need to consider the possible involvement of opportunistic bacteria other than the primary causative agent, C. pseudotuberculosis. It also contributed to increasing the country-specific sequence data and establishing new taxa from a universal perspective.

Pasteurella multocida (P. multocida) gram negatif kokobasil görünümlü bir bakteri olup hem insan hem de çeşitli hayvanlarda sistemik ve sistemik olmayan birçok hastalığın müsebbibi zoonotik bir bakteridir. Dünya genelinde pet hayvanı olarak kedi ve köpek yetiştiriciliği gittikçe artmaktadır. Gelişmemiş ya da gelişmekte olan ülkelerde başıboş köpek sayısının gittikçe artmasıyla insan ve diğer hayvanların başıboş ya da sahipli köpeklerin ısırıklarına sıklıkla maruz kaldığı belirtilmektedir. P. multocida’nın köpeklerin oral boşluğundan sıklıkla izole ve identifiye edildiği birçok makalede ortaya konulmuş, köpek ve kedilerin P. multocida enfeksiyonları için büyük bir risk teşkil ettiği belirtilmiştir. Bu çalışmada P. multocida’nın köpek salyasında varlığını araştırmak amacı ile Çankırı hayvan barınağında tutulan 44 köpekten salya örneği alındı. Köpek salyalarının 12’sinden (%27, 27) P. multocida kültür ve PCR ile tespit edildi. Tespit edilen P. multocida suşlarının disk difüzyon test sonucunda, tamamının (%100) amoksisiline ve cephalotine dirençli olduğu, tamamının (%100) cephoperazona duyarlı, %75’inin ise streptomycine dirençli olduğu gözlemlendi.

Bu çalışmada, Iğdır ilinde yetiştirilen Morkaraman ırkı atık yapmış ve Brucella Spp. yönünden negatif koyunlarda, Schmallenberg virus enfeksiyonu varlığının indirekt ELISA yöntemi ile ortaya konulması amaçlanmıştır. Bu amaçla; Iğdır ilinde yetiştirilen Morkaraman ırkı, abort yapmış 2-6 yaş arasındaki toplam 180 adet koyundan alınan kan örneği değerlendirilmiştir. Etken, Schmallenberg virusuna spesifik antikorların tespit edildiği ELISA (IDEXX Schmallenberg Ab Test®, IDEXX, Switzerland) yöntemi ile değerlendirilmiştir. Araştırmada incelenen 180 koyundan 7 (% 3,88) tanesi şüpheli ve 8 tanesi de (% 4,4) seropozitif olarak tespit edilmiştir. Çalışma, Iğdır ilinde Schmallenberg virusun varlığının bildirildiği ilk çalışmadır.