Learn about drug-resistant HP bacteria

1.1 About HP bacteria HP bacteria (full name: Helicobacter Pylori) is a term that is not too unfamiliar to the community. It is estimated that in Vietnam, about 70% of adults are infected with HP. This is the main cause of peptic ulcers and stomach cancer. An estimated 90% of patients with gastritis have the presence of H. this rate accounts for 75 - 85% in patients with peptic ulcer; accounting for 80-95% of perforation complications due to peptic ulcer.
Therefore, timely treatment of HP is very necessary to prevent dangerous complications of the disease such as gastrointestinal bleeding, gastric perforation, stomach cancer,... However, a new problem again arise, causing headaches for doctors and patients, costing hundreds of dollars is the phenomenon of drug-resistant HP bacteria.
1.2 How resistant is HP bacteria? Helicobacter pylori living in the stomach is well adapted to the environment, so it is difficult for antibiotics to exert their full effect. When taken orally, the antibiotic meets the acidic environment in the stomach and will be canceled or reduced. Therefore, usually, after being diagnosed positive for HP bacteria, the doctor will assign the patient to perform an initial treatment regimen consisting of 3 drugs (proton pump inhibitors and 2 sensitive antibiotics). cold). Proton pump inhibitors help reduce stomach acid so that oral antibiotics can be more effective. Previously, up to 95% of patients responded well to the initial regimen. However, up to now, the number of patients who fail with this 3-drug regimen is on an increasing trend.
The first and effective regimen in treating HP bacteria is the set of 3: PPI, Amoxicillin, Clarithromycin combined with Omeprazol. In the first time, the effectiveness of treatment reached over 80%, but after 30 years, this regimen tends to be less effective. In 2010, according to research conducted at the University Hospital of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, the success rate of the triple regimen was only 62%. This indicates an increased rate of resistance, especially in patients who have tried the first treatment but failed, the rate of resistance to clarithromycin can be as high as 67%. Treatment with Metronidazole also has a resistance rate of up to 55%.
The main cause of treatment failure is drug-resistant HP bacteria. Resistance is the term used to describe a condition in which bacteria begin to mutate to inactivate susceptible antibiotics. This prevents bacteria from being inhibited or inhibited from growing despite being exposed to antibiotics. Compared with the early stage, the drug-resistant HP stage is very difficult to treat, easily causing many dangerous complications if not controlled in time.

There are many reasons why specific drugs for HP bacteria are not effective, bacteria are resistant. The most common are:
2.1 Patients who do not comply with the HP treatment regimen Many patients, when treating stomach diseases caused by HP bacteria, voluntarily stop taking the drug when the symptoms are gone (but the HP bacteria have not yet disappeared). ) or for some reason forgot to take the medicine, did not follow the correct dosing schedule, etc. This created an opportunity for HP bacteria to survive and become resistant to the drug.
Besides, in children, antibiotic regimens to treat HP bacteria often cause digestive disorders, fatigue, bitter mouth, loss of taste, ... causing children to vomit when drinking. As a result, children do not follow the correct antibiotic regimen according to the schedule given by the doctor, making antibiotic resistance become more and more common.
In addition, taking drugs to treat HP at the wrong time, at the wrong dose, in the wrong way, ... are also the basic causes of drug resistance.
2.2 Abuse of antibiotics to treat other diseases During the treatment of common diseases such as sore throats, colds, etc., it is possible that the patient has used too many antibiotics, creating opportunities for bacteria. HP is exposed to antibiotics that should have been able to kill them. However, in order to destroy HP bacteria in the stomach, it must be used at a higher dose and for a longer period of time than with common infections. Gradually, over time, HP bacteria that have been exposed to familiar antibiotics will develop mechanisms to avoid the effects of antibiotics, becoming completely resistant to that antibiotic.

Before HP bacteria were resistant to drugs, the treatment of this bacteria was inherently difficult. Until the HP bacteria become resistant to all drugs, the patient will have to live with it for the rest of his life. Those lucky enough to have immunity to this bacteria will have no problem (but the odds are very low).
HP bacteria when left untreated can lead to many dangerous complications such as stomach ulcers or stomach cancer. Patients may often experience unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms. Gastric ulcers, when left unchecked, can lead to bleeding (emergency) and eventually cancer.

To identify drug-resistant HP bacteria, the patient should perform an antibiotic chart with specific procedures as follows:
Gastroscopy, taking biopsies from the stomach containing HP bacteria; Culture HP bacteria in biopsies in special environments for bacterial growth; Perform susceptibility testing of HP bacteria to different antibiotics to find out which bacteria are resistant to antibiotics. If the bacteria can still grow in the antibiotic cultured medium, it proves that it is indeed resistant to that antibiotic, and should not continue to use this drug during treatment. Making antibiotics for HP bacteria brings many benefits to patients such as:
Help develop a standard treatment regimen for HP bacteria with high efficiency; Save time and money by using the right antibiotics, no need to reuse ineffective antibiotics; Timely prevention of some dangerous complications of HP bacteria to health. According to the doctor's advice, with the current widespread abuse of antibiotics, it is best for patients to do antibiotics for HP bacteria right from the first treatment. This aims to check whether the type of HP that the patient is suffering from can be destroyed by antibiotics, thereby giving the appropriate regimen and shortening the treatment time. Patients with HP bacteria who have been treated with many regimens but have not been effective should also have an antibiotic chart to determine whether HP bacteria are resistant to the drug. In case HP bacteria are already resistant to the drug, the old regimen should be stopped immediately and switched to a new regimen as prescribed by the doctor.

Drug-resistant HP bacteria make it difficult to treat and affect the digestive system in particular, general health in general. However, patients can prevent this risk by the following measures:
As soon as there are symptoms of HP infection such as nausea, vomiting, bloating, epigastric pain, ... the patient should go to the doctor right away; When the diagnosis results are available, the patient should strictly follow the treatment regimen prescribed by the doctor. Patients must not arbitrarily stop the drug or adjust the dose, the time of taking the drug,...; Patients are not allowed to arbitrarily use antibiotics without medical examination; Combine disease treatment regimens with appropriate health care and nutrition regimens. Drug-resistant HP bacteria are becoming more and more common. Therefore, as soon as the patient is diagnosed positive for HP bacteria, the patient should take the initiative to visit the doctor and strictly adhere to the treatment regimen of the doctor.