Diagnosis: Helicobacter heilmannii gastritis
• H. heilmannii differs from H. pylori in bacterial size, shape, and number. H. heilmannii is larger, spiral rather than curved, and present in significantly smaller numbers, mainly in foveolar lumina, where it aggregates in clusters or stacks.
• H. heilmannii does not adhere to the epithelial cell surface, as does H. pylori.
• Evidence suggests that a unique lymphocytic pattern of inflammation, with the propensity to involve the foveolar lumen, is a distinctive histopathologic aspect of H. heilmannii chronic gastritis.
• Symptoms, treatment, and complications are identical to those of H. pylori gastritis.
• Immunohistochemical staining specific for H. pylori also reacts with H. heilmannii, indicating cross-reacting antigenic epitopes between both organisms.
