Prevalence of metronidazole resistance and Helicobacter pylori infection in Moroccan children: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in children is very high in Morocco. Eradication rates of H. pylori infection decrease due to the emergence of resistance to antibiotics. Data on the antimicrobial susceptibility of H. pylori in Moroccan children are not available. This study aims to assess the prevalence of H. pylori infection and the metronidazole resistance rate of H. pylori in Moroccan pediatric patients, and their association with epidemiologic factors.

Methods: a cross-sectional study was conducted on 132 pediatric patients who had an indication for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and attended pediatric hospital Abderrahim Harouchi of the University Hospital Ibn Rochd, Casablanca, Morocco. Detection of H. pylori infection and the susceptibility to metronidazole was performed by classic PCR. Statistical analysis was performed using R Studio software.

Results: the overall prevalence of H. pylori infection was 80.3%. vomiting was significantly associated with H. pylori infection (p-value=0.01). Regarding the resistance rate of metronidazole, we found that the prevalence of H. pylori resistance to metronidazole was high (70.8%) and it significantly increased, especially in pediatric patients living in urban areas (p-value=0.01).

Conclusion: the prevalence of H. pylori infection and resistance rate of metronidazole were very high in Moroccan children. Therefore, triple therapy with metronidazole must be preceded by a study of the bacterium's susceptibility to the prescribed antibiotics, in particular to metronidazole.