Colibactin is a genotoxin produced by Enterobacteriaceae via a polyketide synthase (pks) island cluster. There is less knowledge regarding the distribution of colibactin genes in E. coli isolates in Iraq and its correlation with biofilm and antibiotic susceptibility. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the frequency of some colibactin genes (CIbA and CIbQ) in uropathogenic E. coli in Iraq and evaluate the correlation with biofilm and antimicrobial resistance. Between October 2023 and January 2024, 70 E. coli isolates were isolated from 120 females diagnosed with UTIs. Isolates were identified first by biochemical methods and confirmed molecularly by amplification of 16S rRNA gene with specific primers. PCR was employed to detect the CIbA and CIbQ genes. Biofilm production was assessed by the microtiter plates method, and antibiotic susceptibility was determined by the disc diffusion method. Results indicate a high prevalence of pks+ E. coli (40%, 28/70) compared to pks-E. coli (60%, 42/70) with non-significant differences (p > 0.05). E. coli produce different levels of biofilm with significant differences (p < 0.05). However, a statistically significant correlation has been found between E. coli (pks+) and a moderate biofilm formation with a significant difference (p < 0.05). pks+ E. coli isolates are more sensitive to all antibiotics under investigation, with a significant relation to fluoroquinolone group. Interestingly, current and previous results show that pks+ E. coli prevalence in Iraq has gradually increased over the last five years.
Enterococci species (spp.) are naturally found in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), oral cavity of both human and animals causing several infections including bacteremia, meningitis, endocarditis, intra-abdominal infections, wound infections, urinary tract infections (UTI), atherosclerosis and play a critical role in the riskiness or development of periodontitis, particularly in a suitable mouth environment (Comerlato et al., 2020; Mendes et al., 2020; Xiong et al., 2021; H Elaywe, 2007). Recurrent and continues antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of opportunistic microorganisms is one of the serious public health risk, enterococci spp are often intrinsic resistant to antibiotics class routinly used in treatment such as Cephalosporins, Macrolids
... Show MorePseudomonas aeruginosa, a ubiquitous environmental organism, is a difficult-to-treat opportunistic pathogen due to its broad-spectrum antibiotic resistance and its ability to form biofilms. In this study, we investigate the link between resistance to a clinically important antibiotic, imipenem, and biofilm formation. First, we observed that the laboratory strain P. aeruginosa PAO1 carrying a mutation in the oprD gene, which confers resistance to imipenem, showed a modest reduction in biofilm formation.We also observed an inverse relationship between imipenem resistance and biofilm formation for imipenem-resistant strains selected in vitro, as well as for clinical isolates.We identified two clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa from the sputum
... Show MoreBackground: The antimicrobial resistance is one of the most serious and expanding health problems world -wide in the last decades. The esbl escherichia coli. (extended – spectrum beta-lactamase e.coli) represents an important aspect of it .Objectives: To get an overview on the esbl e.coli prevalence profile in general. Also to assess the antibiotic sensitivity of esbl e. coli trying to specify the most effective antibiotics in combating this micro-organism.Methods: this study tries to focus on this problem in Iraq which through a prospective study approach by taking 35 clinical samples from various sources (urine, blood, abscess, eye ,vagina ,stool and others),and after confirming the presence of e.coli, the presence of esbl e.coli and
... Show MoreThe following study was conducted to investigate the correlation between the expression of three different genes (NOB1, DDX47, CD101( with the occurrence and development of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in Iraq. The difference in the expression of these genes between patients and healthy controls was studied. Moreover the correlation of age and gender with CML occurrence and comparing with control was also examined. Results showed significant increases in mean of gene expression level (ΔCt) of patient groups for all genes compared to the corresponding ΔCt means in control group, also the gene expression folding (2-ΔΔCt) reflect significant differences in the expression of these genes and CD101, mRNA showed the highest level in CML pati
... Show MoreIn present study 74 specimens of urine were collected from patients suffering from urinary tract infections.Fifty (67.56%) isolates were identified as Escherichia coli. 78% of isolates were identified as extendedspectrum beta lactamases (ESBL) producer. Antibiotic susceptibility t est was done and ceftazidime wasselected to complete this study by implying stress at sub-MIC on isolate harbor high number of resistancegenes (N11) and compared with sensitive isolate (S). Only four β-lactamase coding genes were detected;blaTEM, blaPER, blaVIM and blaCTX-M-2 and N11 had blaTEM, blaPER, and blaVIM. It was found that the resistantisolate did not form biofilm when compared with the sensitive one, which formed moderate biofilm. Inaddition, ceftazidi
... Show MorePvcABCD are cluster of genes found in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The research was designed to examine the relationship between the pvc genes expression and cupB gene, which plays a crucial role in the development of biofilm, and rhlR, which regulates the expression of biofilm-related genes, and to investigate whether the pvc genes form one or two operons. The aims were achieved by employing qRT-PCR technique to measure the gene expression of genes of interest. It was found that out of 25 clinical isolates, 21 isolates were qualified as P.aeruginosa. Amongst, 18(85.7%) were evaluated as biofilm producers, 10 (47.6%), 5 (23.8%), and 3 (14.2%) were evaluated as strong, moderate and weak producers respectively, while, 3 (14.2%) were considered
... Show MoreOne hundred twelve urine samples were collected from Baghdad hospitals and examined by different identification techniques. Seventy isolates (62.5%) were diagnosed as Escherichia coli after microscopic and cultural identifications. The result of PCR product electrophoresis on the isolates showed that thirteen isolates (18.57%) have Pap E gene which are uropathogenic E. coli. Antibiotic susceptibility test was done, and four high resistant strains were mixed with aqueous extract of Quercus infectoria plant in 96 well ELISA plate and incubated for different times. After 0, 6, and 12 hr. of incubation, the effect of the plant extract on the bacterial growth was determined by ELISA reader, and the effect on the expression of P
... Show MoreThis study investigated the prevalence of quinolones resistance proteins encoding genes (qnr genes) and co-resistance for fluoroquinolones and β-lactams among clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Out of 150 clinical samples, 50 isolates of K. pneumoniae were identified according to morphological and biochemical properties. These isolates were collected from different clinical samples, including 15 (30%) urine, 12 (24%) blood, 9 (18%) sputum, 9 (18%) wound, and 5 (10%) burn. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) assay revealed that 15 (30%) of isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (≥4µg/ml), 11 (22%) of isolates were resistant to levofloxacin (≥8 µg/ml), 21 (42%) of isolates were re
... Show MoreBackground: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) and their complications such as Bladder cancer (Bl. C.) are a health growing problem worldwide. Objective: To shed light on this subject, present study was done to investigate relationship between recurrent urinary tract infection (RUTI) due to Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Bl. C.Type of study: Cross-sectional study. Methods: This study included 130 patients with RUTI, 50 patients with Bl. C. and 50 control of both sexes (aged 7-85 years) attending Al-Zahra Teaching Hospital in Al-Kut/Wassit governorate and Al-Harery Teaching Hospital of specialized surgeries/Baghdad. The patients were divided into two groups: the first group (n=130) included those who were suffering from recurrent UTI without
... Show MoreUropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) is problematic and still the leading cause of urinary tract infections worldwide. It is developed resistance against most antibiotics. The investigation, surveillance system, and efficient strategy will facilitate selecting an appropriate treatment that could control the bacterial distribution. The present study aims to investigate the epidemiology and associated risk factors of uropathogenic E. coli and to study their antibiotic resistance patterns. 1585 midstream urine specimens were collected from symptomatic urinary tract infections (UTI) patients (225 males and 1360 females) admitted to Zakho emergency hospital, Zakho, Kurdistan Region, Iraq from January 2016 until the end of December 2
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