Abstract
Helicobacter pylori is a helical shaped bacterium that predominantly resides in stomach and duodenal epithelia. It is believed to be responsible for localized inflammations resulting in peptic ulcers as well as other digestive tract complications. Although half of the world’s population are carriers of the bacterium, its exact mode of transmission and pathogenic mechanisms are yet to be elucidated. The major purpose of this study was isolation and identification of H. pylori from river waters in north of Iran. The preT-KB method was used for isolation and PCR technique for detection of DNA. The presence of the bacterium was not observed in any of the 235 samples of water analyzed. The results of the PCR on the water samples confirmed the absence of Helicobacter´s DNA. Considering that the applied technique could identify the number of 102 bacteria and 0.1 µg of DNA in each milliliter, we believe that the samples collected from this geographical region were not contaminated with H. pylori.
Key words: Helicobacter, river waters, north of Iran
