Self-medication is the administration of medications without a medical prescription to manage self-diagnosed health problems or symptoms. Self-medication with antibiotics is a global phenomenon, and it is more common in developing countries due to poor regulatory controls. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of self-medication with antibiotics in Erbil city, Iraq. This was an observational cross-sectional study involving a total of 100 people from the public population in Erbil City, Iraq. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants. Among 100 participants, 90% of them were self-medicated with antibiotics. Amoxicillin was the most commonly used antibiotic for self-medication. For successful treatment, 77% of the participants were satisfied by self-medication with the antibiotic. The primary source for the antibiotic was from a community pharmacy with 38%. The study showed that there is a significant association between self-medication with antibiotics and the occupational status of the participants. Self-medication with antibiotics was found to be prevalent among the public population of Erbil City. As a recommendation regulatory control should be implemented to prevent dispensing antibiotics without a medical prescription.

The present study carried out in Azady teaching general hospital in Kirkuk city during the period from August 2017 to May 2018, to determine the frequency of ToxA gene and ExoS gene in P. aeruginosa isolates. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (100) isolates had been obtained from (1260) different clinical specimens, High prevalence of P. aeruginosa found in isolates obtained from burn swabs. Regarding to genders and ages, P. aeruginosa presented in females (58%) more than males (42%), regarding to age groups, P. aeruginosa presented more frequently (26%) in age group (20-30) followed by children (1-10) years that formed (22%). Molecular detection of virulence genes had been done by using conventional PCR technique, regarding to prevalence of ToxA and ExoS genes, ToxA gene presented (96%), ExoS gene (92%). Regarding to the distribution of genes in clinical specimens, ToxA gene present (100%) in all clinical specimens except in urine samples (90.9%) and low percentage found in sputum (50%). ExoS gene present (100%) in all isolates, while ExoS gene less frequently presented in ear swab isolates ( 83.3%) than other specimens, followed by urine specimens (81.8%), in bronchial washes isolates ExoS gene was absent. This study aims to determine the frequency of ToxA gene and ExoS gene in P. aeruginosa isolates that obtained from different clinical specimens.