High prevalence of virulence-associated genotypes in Helicobacter pylori clinical isolates in the Region del Maule, Chile.

The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and the gastric cancer mortality rate in Chile are remarkably high. This study identified some virulence-associated genes in 78 H. pylori clinical isolates from dyspeptic patients from the Region del Maule, which is the region with the higher gastric cancer mortality rate in the country. The cagA, vacA and babA2 genes were detected in 94.9%, 100% and 97.4%, respectively. Two or more EPIYA C motifs were presented in 48.6% of cagA-positive strains, and this was associated with more severe histopathological findings in the gastric mucosa.