title: Evaluation of antimicrobial susceptibility and integron carriage inHelicobacter pyloriisolates from patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to determine the antibiotic susceptibility pattern and distribution of integron inH. pyloriisolates collected from patients referred to private health care centers in Tehran, Iran.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Antibiotic resistance is the main reason for failure ofHelicobacter pyloritherapy. Integrons as genetic reservoirs play main roles in the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance gene.
  
  
  METHODS
  During a 12-month cross-sectional study period, 65H. pyloriisolates were recovered from 124 biopsy specimens. Isolates were subjected to susceptibility testing using by Epsilometer test according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) guideline. PCR was used to detect different types of integrons.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed that 73.8% of isolates were resistant to metronidazole, 43.1% to clarithromycin, 29.2% to tetracycline, 27.7% to amoxicillin, 23.1% to rifampicin and 13.4% to levofloxacin. Frequency of multidrug resistance amongH. pyloriisolates was 26.1%. The most predominant resistance profiles among our isolates were included resistance to clarithromycin and metronidazole (20%). Class 1 and 2 integrons were detected in 8 (12.3%) and 15 (23.1%) of the isolates, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high prevalence of multidrug resistance and frequency of class 2 integron in this survey can be a warning for clinicians. Continuous surveillance is necessary for the development of new treatment protocols to prevent the treatment failures and also further spread of resistant isolates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goudarzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heidary
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, School of Paramedicine, Qazvin University of Medical Sciences, Qazvin, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Azad
authors.affiliation: WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Rabies, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fazeli
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Goudarzi
keywords: H. pylori; Multidrug-Resistant; integron