Helicobacter pylori causes peptic ulceration and gastric adenocarcinoma. The aims were to study the influence of dupA1 positivity upon interleukin-8 (IL-8) secretion from gastric mucosa and determine the prevalence of mutations responsible for clarithromycin and fluoroquinolone resistance. DNA was extracted from 74 biopsies and the virulence factors were studied. Levels of IL-8 in gastric mucosa were measured using ELISA and the mutations responsible for clarithromycin and fluoroquinolone resistance were determined using a GenoType-HelicoDR assay. The prevalence of cagA in strains isolated from gastric ulcer (GU) and duodenal ulcer (DU) was significantly higher than those isolated from non-ulcer disease (NUD) (90% and 57.9% versus 33.3%; p 0.01). The vacA s1m1 genotype was more prevalent in patients with DU (73.7%) and GU (70%) than in those with NUD (13.3%) (p 0.01). The prevalence of dupA1 was higher in DU patients (36.8%) than those with GU (10%) and NUD (8.9%) (p 0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that a cagA+/vacA s1i1m2 virulence gene combination was independently associated with the developing peptic ulcer disease (PUD) with increased odds of developing PUD (p 0.03; OR = 2.1). We found no significant difference in the levels of IL-8 secretion in gastric mucosa infected with H. pylori dupA-negative and H. pylori dupA1-positive strains (dupA-negative: mean ± median: 28 ± 26 versus 30 ± 27.1 for dupA1; p 0.6). While 12 strains were clarithromycin resistant, only three isolates were levofloxacin resistant. A significant association was found between dupA1 genotype and A2147G clarithromycin resistance mutation (p <0.01). Further study is needed to explore the relationship between virulence factors and disease process and treatment failure.

T HE study aimed to investigate the presence of A. hydrophila in mutton and beef, and to determine the possible association between resistance to antibiotics and biofilm formation ability. A total of 91 meat samples; (60) mutton and (31) beef collected from local slaughterhouse in Duhok city. All samples were cultured and A. hydrophila strains were isolated using microbiological and biochemical assays then confirmed molecularly by amplifying 16S rRNA gene. The antimicrobials susceptibility test was implemented using Kirby-Bauer procedure and biofilm formation ability was quantified by micro-titer plate appliance. The bacterial identification revealed that 41(45.05%) isolates were belonging to A. hydrophila distributed as 28/60 (46.67%) for mutton and 13/31 (41.93%) for beef. Antibiotic susceptibility test results showed that the highest resistance was recorded for Cephalothin, Amoxicillin, and Tetracycline at a rate of 90.24%, 82.92%, and 85.36% respectively, while high sensitivity to Nitrofurantoin, Chloramphenicol, Cefixime, Trimethoprim, Ciprofloxacin, and Ceftriaxone was detected in 95.12%, 92.68%, 97.56%, 90.24%, 90.24%, and 97.56% of the isolates, respectively. The biofilm formation assay demonstrated that (90.23%) of obtained isolates were biofilm producers distributed among strong, intermediate and weak and there was a positive association between antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation. Our study's findings imply that the occurrence of A. hydrophila in food meats is a significant health hazard and may cause foodborne illnesses. Because Aeromonads can endure cold temperatures, and thrive in a variety of habitats, it is important to pay them more attention and strict sanitary practices should be used to limit bacterial contamination.