17 28 - 30 August 2012 7 th Int.  Sci. Conf., MANSOURA ﺭﻗﻢ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺚ) 2 ( EPIDEMIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HELICOBACTER PYLORI INFECTION AS AN EMERGENCE ZOONOTIC DISEASE: ANIMAL RESERVOIRS AND PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS (A REVIEW ARTICLE) BY AMRO A. MOHAMED* and ADEL H. El-GOHARY** *Professor of Zoonoses, Department of Hygiene and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt. **Professor of Zoonoses, Chairman of Department of Hygiene and Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, Egypt. ABSTRACT Helicobacter pylori is an organism involved in the pathogenesis of human active chronic gastritis, peptic and duodenal ulcer diseases and gastric cancer. The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection has increased worldwide. This number is estimated to be around 70–90% in developing countries and 25–50% in developed countries. It is possible that the bacterium can be transmitted via food and water as well as zoonotically and iatrogenically. Although the bacterium was recently discovered, thousands of articles have been written about H. pylori. The primary focus is on the epidemiology and transmission of H. pylori infection in man, including reviews of the prevalence of and risk factors for H. pylori infection, and hypothesized modes of transmission. The patterns of the infection are consistent with those from fecal–oral and oral–oral transmission. We review current knowledge on the etiology, epidemiological characteristics, animal reservoirs, clinical features, diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection as an emerging bacterial zoonosis. The zoonotic aspect and public health implication of Helicobacter pylori infection was also discussed. INTRODUCTION Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) formerly known as Campylobacter pylori is a human pathogen was originally isolated in 1982 from endoscopic biopsy specimens of human gastric