Search

Streptococcus pneumoniae causes life threatening infections and necessitate for impediment and controlling disease; to conquer this, information is needed about serotype distribution and patterns of antibiotic resistance. The present study was to determine the serotype distribution of S. pneumoniae isolated from the entire age group individual and to correlate this distribution with susceptibility. Cases of pneumococcal infections have been reviewed for serotyping and antibiotic susceptibility. Out of 117 pneumococcal isolates 45 (39%) were penicillin-resistant, 84 (72%) were erythromycin-resistant and 100% were co-trimoxazole resistant. The most frequently isolated serotypes were 23F, 19F, 14, 6B, 5, 6A, 19A and 9V. PCV7, PCV10 and PCV13 coverage was 68%, 79%, 87%, respectively. Similarly, there was similarity in PCV7 coverage for non invasive isolates (64.5%) and invasive isolates (72.2%). The study state that common pneumococcal serotypes were present in similar ways as reported in literature. A continuous survey of pneumococcal infected population is requirement and necessity for success of vaccination.

Helicobacter pylori has been strongly associated with gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers, and it is a risk factor for gastric cancer. Two major virulence factors of H. pylori have been described: the cytotoxin-associated gene product (cagA) and the vacuolating toxin (vacA). Since considerable geographic diversity in the prevalence of H. pylori virulence factors has been reported, the aim of this work was to determine if there is a significant correlation between different H. pylori virulence genes (cagA and vacA) in 68 patients, from Saudi Arabia, and gastric clinical outcomes. H. pylor was recognized in cultures of gastric biopsies. vacA and cagA genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The cagA gene was obtained with 42 isolates (61.8%). The vacA s- and m- region genotypes were determined in all strains studied. Three genotypes were found: s1/m1 (28%), s1/m2 (40%) and s2/m2 (26%). The s2/m1 genotype was not found in this study. The relation of the presence of cagA and the development of cases to gastritis and ulcer was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The study showed a significant correlation between the vacAs1/m2 genotype and gastritis cases, and a significant correlation between vacAs1/m1 genotype and peptic ulcer cases. The results of this study might be used for the identification of high-risk patients who are infected by vacAs1/m1 genotype of H. pylori strains. In conclusion, H. pylori strains of vacA type s1 and the combination of s1/m1 were associated with peptic ulceration and the presence of cagA gene.

Background/aims: Helicobacter pylori is present worldwide but few large population studies exist on the epidemiology of the infection in Saudi Arabia. This is an urban based study which was undertaken to determine the prevalence of H. pylori infection among outpatients suffering from gastrointestinal symptoms attending large hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia., Methods: A validated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used for this study with 5782 samples collected from the outpatients population suffering from gastrointestinal (dyspeptic) symptoms, aged 2 to 82 years., Results: H. pylori seroprevalence was 67% increasing with age. Female shows higher prevalence of H. pylori infection than male. H. pylori infection was more common in patients suffering from epigastric pain., Conclusions: The seroprevalence rate was higher in female than male. This study shows a high prevalence of H. pylori infection in a large series of patients in an urban area of Saudi Arabia.

The relation between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and pathological changes in gastric mucosa ranging from active superficial gastritis to chronic active deep gastritis accompanied with intestinal metaplasia and dysplastic changes to gastric carcinoma of different grades. Two hundred and sixty six (266) gastric biopsies were examined from Saudi patients. At the same time a total of (10) patients with antral gastritis were used as control. The age of the patients ranged from 16 - 58 years old. There was no difference of changes in between. The transition between these changes may be multifactorial processes in which H. pylori may play a part. The findings suggested that gastric cancer may be induced in the disease associated with H. pylori in spite that the etiology of gastric carcinoma has not been clearly identified. Results showed that H. pylori associated chronic gastritis was the associated disease in (8%) of patients with gastric cancer. The remaining (92%) seems to have normal stomach to severe corpus atrophy.