Background: Cholera has been recognized as a killer disease since earliest time. The disease is caused by infection of the small intestine by Vibrio cholerae O1 and O1391 which is characterized by severe dehydrating diarrheal condition and is one disease in modern times that is epidemic, endemic and pandemic in nature. Objective: This study was carried out to detect and isolate V. cholerae from patients suffered from watery diarrhea, which may cause severe complications such as dehydration, shock followed by death. Materials and methods: stool specimens were collected from 308 patients with watery diarrhea. These samples were tested with many criteria such as TCBS agar, gram stain, biochemical tests and VITEK-2 system to improve the isolati

Parasitological investigation of piscivorous birds in Al-Hammar marsh south of Iraq during December-February 2004 and December 2005 were revealed that water birds infected with five nematode species, which belong to three different superfamilies, Desmidocercella numidica (Seurat, 1920) (Superfamily: Aproctoidea) from three piscivorous birds including Grey heron Ardea cinerea, Bittern Botaurusstellaris, and small white heron Ardeola ralloides; Avioserpens sp. 1 and Avioserpens sp. 2 (Superfamily: Dracunculoidea) from small bittern Ixobrychus minutus and black glossy ibis Plegadisfalcinellus respectively; Baruscapillaria sp. and Baruscapillarinae gen. sp. (Sup

Background: The emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacilliin burn wound infections related to biofilm formation, which lend to challenge in treatment with conventional antibiotics andprompting to search for novel antimicrobial agents to control the infections.Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have wide spectrum biological properties with different mechanisms of action and less toxicity towards human cells.

Objective:The goal of this study was to evaluated the anti-bacterial and anti-biofilm activities of AgNPs alone and in combination with aminoglycoside (Amikacin) and β-lactam (Ampicillin) antibiotics against multidrug resistant Gram-negative bacilli (Pseudomonas aeruginos

This study is an investigation of the drugs effect on some pathogenic Acanthamoeba isolated from Iraqi waters, where the problem of environmental adaptation that characterizes this organism in addition to being a reservoir for many pathogenic microorganisms that take shelter in it to escape disinfectants and medicines is sometimes difficult to treat it with traditional treatments.  Twenty water samples were collected from different water regions in Iraq, namely the Dokan Lake, Tigris River, Euphrates River and Najaf Sea, 5 samples from each source.  Acanthamoeba was isolated from water samples on NNA and PYG media, using an inverted microscope with an electron microscope to determine their phenotypic features. PCR and

Abiotic stress-induced genes may lead to understand the response of plants and adaptability to salinity and drought stresses. Differential display reverse transcriptase – polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR) was used to investigate the differences in gene expression between drought- and salinity-stressed plantlets of Ruta graveolens. Direct and stepwise exposures to drought- or salt-responsive genes were screened in R. graveolens plantlets using the DDRT technique. Gene expression was investigated both in the control and in the salt or drought-stressed plantlets and differential banding patterns with different molecular sizes were observed using the primers OPA-01 (646,770 and 983 pb), OPA-08 (593 and 988 pb), OPA-11 (674 and 831 pb

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has variety of virulence factors that contribute to its pathogenicity. Therefore, rapid detection with high accuracy and specificity is very important in the control of this pathogenic bacterium. To evaluate the accuracy and specificity of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay, ETA and gyrB genes were targeted to detect pathogenic strains of P. aeruginosa. Seventy swab samples were taken from patients with infected wounds and burns in two hospitals in Erbil and Koya cities in Iraq. The isolates were traditionally identified using phenotypic methods, and DNA was extracted from the positive samples, to apply PCR using the species specific primers targeting ETA, the gene encoding for exotoxin A, and gyrB gene. The res