Increased Resistance of Fluoroquinolones among H. pylori isolates from Patients with Gastroduodenal Diseases in Jordan

Abstract

Recently, Helicobacter pylori has been connected to more than 80% of chronic active gastritis and other gastroduodenal diseases worldwide. Treatment of H. pylori is routinely dependent on the use of multiple antimicrobial agents however, recent data showed the emergence of resistance among clinical strains especially against metronidazole and clarithromycin. This study was conducted to investigate the rate of resistance to different antibiotics that are routinely used in the first line and second line therapies including ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin, tetracycline, amoxicillin, clarithromycin and metronidazole among H. pylori strains isolated from patients with gastroduodenal diseases in Jordan. Both antral and corpus mucosal biopsies from the stomach of patients with positive results of H. pylori stool antigen and urease breath tests were used for the isolation of H. pylori on selective culture media. The standard agar diffusion method was performed to determine the sensitivity of H. pylori clinical isolates against ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin according to CLSI. Among 62 H. pylori clinical strains isolated from gastric biopsies, 21% and 11% were resistant to levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin respectively. Resistance to metronidazole and clarithromycin was found in 90% and 11% respectively. No resistance was observed against amoxicillin, tetracycline and gemifloxacin. The following MIC90 (mg/L) of resistant strains results were obtained at neutral pH 7.3, 64 for metronidazole, 2 for clarithromycin, 2 for ciprofloxacin and 1 for levofloxacin. The present study reported the emergence of increased resistance of fluoroquinolones among H. pylori clinical isolates in Jordan. Concern should be taken into consideration when triple and quadruple therapy regimens are applied for the management of H. pylori infections in our region