Genotyping of vacA alleles of Helicobacter pylori strains recovered from some Iranian food items

Purpose: To study the vacA genotype status of H. pylori isolated from some Iranian food items.Methods: Three hundred assorted samples of fish, ham, chicken, vegetable and meat sandwiches, and minced meat were purchased and tested using culture method. Those that were H. pylori-positive were analyzed for presence of vacA genotypes using polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Results: Sixty out of 300 (20 %) food samples were positive for H. pylori. Vegetable sandwich (45 %), minced meat (32 %) and meat sandwich (20 %) were the most commonly contaminated. The most commonly detected genotypes in the meat-based foods, viz, vegetable sandwich and ready to eat fish, were vacA s1a, vacA m1a and vacA m2, respectively. The most commonly detected combined genotypes were s1am2 (45 %), s1am1a (40 %) and m1am2 (35 %).Conclusion: The presence of similar genotypes in H. pylori strains of foods and those of human clinical samples suggest that contaminated foods may be the source of bacteria for humans.