title: VacA, cagA, iceA and oipA genotypes status and antimicrobial resistance properties of Helicobacter pylori isolated from various types of ready to eat foods.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the high clinical standing of Helicobacter pylori, its exact routes of transmission and origin have not been determined. Based on the contentious hypothesis, foods play an important roles in the transmission of H. pylori to humans. The present study was carried out to investigate the vacA, cagA, oipA and iceA genotypes status of H. pylori isolated from the various types of ready to eat foods.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 550 ready to eat food samples were cultured and tested. H. pylori-positive strains were analyzed for the presence of various genotypes and antimicrobial resistance pattern.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy four out of 550 (13.45 %) samples were positive for H. pylori. Olvie salad (36 %), restaurant salad (30 %), fruit salad (28 %) and soup (22 %) were the most commonly contaminated. H. pylori strains harbored the highest levels of resistance against amoxicillin (94.59 %), ampicillin (93.24 %), metronidazole (89.18 %) and tetracycline (72.97 %). The most commonly detected genotypes were vacA s1a (78.37 %), vacA m2 (75.67 %), vacA m1a (51.35 %) and cagA (41.89 %). The prevalence of iceA1, iceA2 and oipA genotypes were 13.51, 4.05 and 18.91 %, respectively. S1am2 (70.27 %), s1am1a (39.18 %) and m1am2 (31.08 %) were the most commonly detected combined genotypes. Of 40 different genotypic combinations, s1a/cagA+/iceA1/oipA- (12.16 %), s1a/cagA+/iceA1/oipA+ (10.81 %) and s1a/cagA-/iceA1/oipA+ (10.81 %) were the most prevalent.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present investigation showed that some types of ready to eat food samples maybe the sources of resistant and virulent strains of H. pylori. Warily use of antibiotics with respect to the results of disk diffusion method and careful health monitoring on food and staffs of food producing companies maybe reduce the risk of H. pylori in foods.
authors.affiliation: Graduated Student of Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran. Dr.behsan@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Behsan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hemmatinezhad
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, College of Basic Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran. Hamomtaz@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Momtaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Hygiene and Public Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord, Iran. Ebrahimrahimi55@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ebrahim
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rahimi
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D057140:Fast Foods / Q000382:microbiology*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D005838:Genotype; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010802:Phylogeny; D014675:Vegetables / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C526444:OipA protein, Helicobacter pylori; C074689:VacA protein, Helicobacter pylori; C063113:ice nucleation protein