Helicobacter pylori primary resistant strains over 11 years in French children

The yearly prevalence between 1994 and 2005 of primary resistance to amoxicillin, metronidazole, and clarithromycin of 377 Helicobacter pylori strains isolated from children was studied. All the H. pylori strains were susceptible to amoxicillin, 138/377 (36.7%) were resistant to metronidazole, 86/377 (22.8%) to clarithromycin, and 30/377 (7.9%) to both metronidazole and clarithromycin. Over the entire period, resistance to clarithromycin did not change, whereas metronidazole resistance decreased significantly from 43.3% (1994–1998) to 32% (1999–2005), P = 0.001.