Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance profile of Salmonella typhi infection in Iraq, 2019-2021.

INTRODUCTION: Salmonella typhi could infect the intestinal tract and the bloodstream or invade body organs and secrete endotoxins. It is endemic in developing countries. It is increasingly evolving antimicrobial resistance to several commonly used antimicrobial agents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was done at Iraqi Communicable Disease Control Center, where all confirmed cases of Salmonella typhi are reported, for a period 2019-2021. All demographic, epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients, comorbidities, type of samples, distribution of S. typhi by age and gender, time distribution in each year and profile of bacterial resistance and sensitivity to antibiotics were gathered and analysed. RESULTS: Most samples were taken from blood. The mean age of cases during 2019, 2020 and 2021 was 18.7 ± 6.5, 17.7 ± 14.1 and 17.3 ± 12.8. Males constituted 56.7%, 58.5% and 39.8%, respectively. Some cases had comorbidities. Most cases had headache and fever. Some of them had nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting and epigastric pain. The age and sex were significantly associated with years of reporting. The most months of case reporting were June-July (2019 and 2021), Jan. -Feb. (2020). There was an obvious increase in S. typhi resistance to ceftriaxone (92.2%, 86.1%, 88.8%) and ampicillin (77.1%, 76.9%, 81.27%). There was a gradual increase in sensitivity to tetracycline (83.1%, 88.1%, 94%), cotrimoxazole (86.7%, 86.1%, 92.2%), ciprofloxacin (78.3%, 90.1%, 87.8%) and cefixime (77.7%, 72.3%, 72.7%). CONCLUSIONS: There was a sharp rise in resistance rates of the S. typhi in Iraq (during 2019-2021) to ceftriaxone and ampicillin, while there were highest sensitivity rates to imipenem, aztreonam and chloramphenicol. The following recommendations were made: (1) Improvement of general hygiene and food safety measures. (2) Emphasis on vaccination and surveillance of Salmonella infection. (3) Rational use of appropriate antibiotics through implementation of treatment guidelines. (5) Educate communities and travelers about the risks of S. typhi and its preventive measures.

Prevalence and types of genetic polymorphisms of CYP2C19 and their effects on platelet aggregation inhibition by clopidogrel.

OBJECTIVE: The current study was conducted to determine the distribution of genetic polymorphisms in CYP2C19 in Iraqi patients and their role in inter-individual variability of clopidogrel efficacy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A prospective controlled study was done on 100 patients under high risk of cardiovascular diseases who started clopidogrel prophylactic therapy. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method was used to determine the existence of the CYP2C19 gene mutation. Vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) index baseline besides one-month post-therapy was analyzed by dual-color flow cytometry analysis. RESULTS: Eight gene mutations of CYP2C19 were found (*1/*1), (*1/*2), (*1/*3), (*1/*8), (*1/*17), (*2/*2), (*2/*4), and (*3/*3) with higher prevalent CYP2C19*1 gene. Homozygous CYP2C19*1 allele was shown to be the rapid metabolizer comparing to the heterozygous CYP2C19*1 allele, whereas, CYP2C19*2 and CYP2C19*3 were resistant alleles and were present in 28% of patients. The analysis of VASP phosphorylation produces accurate inter-individual response variability in platelets inhibition by antiplatelet drugs. CONCLUSIONS: In vitro gene analysis and VASP index improve the clinical outcome of a patient candidate to clopidogrel as prophylaxis in cardiovascular events.