Biochemical and resistance profile of Helicobacter pylori isolated in N’Djamena in Chad

Abstract

Helicobacter pylori infection and resistance to antibiotics is a public health problem. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and rates of resistance to antibiotics used in the protocol for the management of patients with Helicobacter pylori infection. Spanning a period from February 2020 to February 2021, it was an observational diagnostic study on gastric biopsies and stool including 97 patients admitted for endoscopy. It was carried out according to standard methods of medical microbiology. Of 97 patients whose mean age was 46.10 years with extremes of 16 and 85 years, an infection prevalence of 60.82% was observed. 44.07% of infected patients were between 16 and 39 years old, 33.90% between 40 and 63 years old, and 22.03% between 63 and 85 years old. Significant differences were observed between the proportions of positive (81.44%) and negative (18.56%) cultures, between infection with H. pylori (75%) and other microbial agents (25.35%) with probabilities of 0.01 and 0.02 respectively. The most resistant antibiotics were: Metronidazole, Clarithromycin, Levofloxacin, Tetracycline and Amoxicillin with resistance rates of 74.58%, 16.95%, 13.56%, 8.47%, and 5.08% respectively.  The frequencies of antibiotic resistance revealed 74.58% for Metronidazole, 16.95% for Clarithromycin, 13.56% for Levofloxacin, 8.47% for Tetracycline, and 5.08% for Amoxicillin. This study made it possible to determine a significant proportion of H. pylori infection and to shed light on the resistance to the antibiotics used in the eradicating treatment of the bacteria. From this study, we retain that the prescription of Metronidazole is prohibited in Chad. Keywords: Helicobacter pylori, Resistance, Antibiotic, Chad.