Phenotypic detection of some drug resistance and virulence factors among Helicobacter pylori isolated from clinical sources in Iraq

Helicobacter pylori colonizes the gastrointestinal tract and can produce diseases leading to gastric problems ranging from gastritis to peptic ulcers or macroadenomas. In these cases, t reatment is critical . H owever, antibiotic resistance could potentially reduce the antibiotic efficacy leading to disease progression . The present study aimed to characterize the resistance profile of commonly used antibiotics in our community, including metronidazole, clarit h romycin, amoxicillin, and tetracycline. Helicobacter pylori were cultured and characterised for identification and virulence factor production. For H. pylori isolates from individuals with gastrointestinal illnesses, a set of drugs, including clarithromycin, tetracycline, amoxicillin and metronidazole, w as used in the disk diffusion and agar dil u tion procedures. 25 individuals with gastrointestinal illnesses out of 100 patients tested positive for H. pylori is o lates. After that, an antibiotic sensitivity test was performed, and the results showed that 9/25 (36%) of the isolates were resistant to metronidazole (MICs ≥ 6 μg/L), while 7/25 (28%) were resistant to amoxicillin (MICs ≤ 1 μg/mL), while resistance rates were 6/25 (24%) to tetracycline and 3/25 (12%) to clarithromycin (MICs ≤ 4 μg/mL). The present study confirmed that resistance exists with metronidazole being the highest while clarithr o mycin, amoxicillin, and tetracycline have lower resistance than metronidazole.