Multicentre, cross-sectional surveillance of Helicobacter pylori prevalence and antibiotic resistance to clarithromycin and levofloxacin in urban China using the string test coupled with quantitative PCR
Liang Wang, Zhengkang Li, Chin Yen Tay, Barry J. Marshall, Bing Gu, Tian Yan, Xubo Dai, Hong Du, Qiong Dai, Cui Feng, Qi Fang, Yanjiang Huang, Yizhong Hu, Min He, Guochu Hu, Hui Huang, Qixin Li, Mingbo Liu, Junhong Li, Jinhua Luo, Zhifang Lin, Fen Li, Haitao Liu, Dong Xia, Man Baohua, Jianhong Ma, Shifu Tang, Bofu Tang, Jiliang Wang, Tao Wu, Xiaoling Wang, Handong Wang, Shuchun Wang, Jing Xu, Jiancheng Xu, Qingquan Xie, Rongzhang Xie, Yongping Ye, Gailing Yuan, Xingcheng Zhu, Shulei Zhao, Wen-Bi Zou, Liyan Zhang, Bin Zhou
Abstract
Antibiotic-resistant Helicobacter pylori infections pose a considerable burden on health care in China.1 However, the existing knowledge of H pylori prevalence and antibiotic resistance in urban China is derived from heterogeneous testing methodologies and studied populations.2 The string test is a minimally invasive method used to obtain gastric fluid samples3,4 and can be used to detect H pylori infection and antibiotic resistance when combined with quantitative PCR (appendix p 3–4).5 We conducted nationwide, multicentre, cross-sectional surveillance using this combined diagnostic approach to provide an overview of H pylori prevalence and antibiotic resistance rates, specifically against clarithromycin and levofloxacin, in urban China.