Emerging trends of antimicrobial resistance in Helicobacter pylori isolates obtained from Pakistani patients: The need for consideration of amoxicillin and clarithromycin

Objective: To present antimicrobial susceptibility profile of helicobacter pylori isolated from gastric biopsies of dyspeptic patients. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2008 to May 2013 at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi, and comprised patients with suspected peptic ulcer disease who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Multiple gastric antral biopsies were taken. One sample was imbedded in the Campylobacter-like organism test, while other biopsies were processed for culture and confirmed on polymerase chain reaction. Isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing and minimum inhibitory concentrations of antimicrobial agents were estimated by Epsilometer test. SPSS 21 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Of the 889 samples available, 254(28.6%) were positive after campylo-like organism test, of them, 92(36.2%) isolates were cultured. Susceptibility test showed 90(97.8%) resistance to metronidazole, 25(30.1%) ofloxacin, 6(16.2%) levofloxacin, 14(15.2%) furazolidone, 5(5.4%) clarithromycin, 4(4.3%) tetracycline and 2(2.2%) isolates showed resistance to amoxicillin. Resistance to more than one drug was observed in 37(40.2%) isolates. Conclusion: Low clarithromycin resistance was surprising since Pakistan is considered a hot bed of drug-resistant bacteria.