Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and antibiotic resistance profile in Armenia

The prevalence of infection was never assessed in Armenia, nor was the prevalence of resistance against the main antibiotics concerned, despite the fact that these data are fundamental to establish evidence-based recommendations for management of this infection. We aimed to fill this gap by assessing prevalence of among adult population in Armenia and resistance of strains to clarithromycin and levofloxacin. seroprevalence was determined in 217 asymptomatic adult subjects submitted to a health checkup using an ELISA. Molecular methods were used to detect in gastric biopsies from 91 adult dyspeptic patients [55 (60.4%) were positive] as well as the mutations associated with clarithromycin resistance by real-time PCR and with levofloxacin by sequencing the A QRDR. seropositivity was found to be 41.5% globally and increased with age from 13.6% (age 18-25 years) to 83.3% (age > 65 years). Only two cases were found with a A2142/43G mutation causing clarithromycin resistance, and 6 cases showed mutations associated with levofloxacin resistance. infection is estimated to be about 42% among adults in Armenia and the low clarithromycin resistance allows the use of the standard triple therapy as a first line therapy.