The public discussion of the doctoral student - (Rawa Ali Hussein) from the Department of Biology at the College of Science - University of Anbar took place on Sunday, 5/15/2022 at Jaber bin Hayyan Hall in the College of Science for her tagged thesis:

(Genotypic and Phenotypic Detection of Clarithromycin Resistance in Clinical Isolates of Helicobacter pylori with Point Mutations in 23S rRNA: Molecular and Clinical Study).

The study aimed to detect the presence of H. pylori in study patients using non-invasive test which include the conventional techniques and advanced molecular techniques using gastric tissue during oral endoscopy in patients with gastrointestinal diseases. Further to determine the phenotypic technique for detection of clarithromycin resistance H. pylori, to detect the point mutations in 23S rRNA which associate with clarithromycin-resistant H. pylori isolates in A2143G, A2144G genetic loci using restriction fragment length polymorphism technique and to evaluate the distribution of clarithromycin-resistant H. pylori strains and their association with genotypic markers, such as vacA gene and allelic variants of the vacA gene using conventional PCR. The study concluded the prevalence rate of H. pylori in Iraqi patients was ranged from 47.8 to 70.4 % using different invasive and non-invasive detection methods. This study confirmed markedly the role of real-time PCR as a more sensitive, reliable and accurate than another diagnostic study method. High level of resistance to clarithromycin by study isolates is highly observed. PCR-RFLP technique was assumed the clarithromycin resistance due to point mutations efficiently. In the study patients, the most common vacA genotype combinations were s2m2 and s1m1, which were mainly related with gastritis and combined gastric and duodenal ulcers. Further, s2m2 bacteria are more resistant to clarithromycin than s1m1 and s1m2 mosaic combinations. The study concludes that there is a strong correlation between smoking, alcohol consumption, and H. pylori infection that was considerably more prevalent in study males.