Helicobacter pylori, Risk Factors and Resistance to Clarithromycin among Dyspeptic Patients in Patients in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Infection with H. pylori is considered a major cause of chronic gastritis peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer. More than half of the world population is infected with H. pylori and a 70% prevalence has been reported from Sri Lanka. Due to the difficulty in culture and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing in the laboratory, it is treated empirically using clarythromycin as part of the triple therapy. The resistance to these antibiotics in Sri Lanka are not known. Thus it is of paramount importance to determine the clarithromycin resistance of H. pylori in Sri Lanka. The aim of this study was to determine the current proportion of H. pylori and to investigate the clarithrormycin resistant A2142G and A2143G mutations present in the 23S rRNA gene of H. pyloii strains. Further the risk factors tor infection with H. pylori were investigated.