This study was conducted to estimate the incidence and the effects of associated risk factors of scabies and head lice on displaced people in Cham Mishko camp, Zakho city, Duhok Province, Iraq. The study included 1300 internally displaced people (IDPs) who visited the dermatology clinic and health care center in Cham Mishko camp from January 2018 to December 2019. Participants’ bio-information was collected on special questionnaire form after receiving permission from the camp’s health authorities and verbal consent from the participants. Monthly weather data were collected from Duhok Directorate of Meteorology and Seismology. The total rate of ectoparasites was 81.2% (45% for scabies and 36.2% for head lice). Ages from 1–10, 21–30, and 31–40 years showed the highest rates with scabies (48.1%, 46.7% and 46.1%, respectively), while the highest rates of head pediculosis were at ages from 1–10 and 11–20 years (40% and 36.6%, respectively). Scabies rate was slightly higher in males than females (46.6% vs. 43.4%), while the rate of head pediculosis was significantly higher in females than males (58.2% vs. 13.9%). Families with more than ten people showed the highest rates of scabies and head pediculosis (49.5% and 74.5%). Scabies was more common in cold months than in summer while head pediculosis was more common in hot months. The number of scabies and head pediculosis cases increased by 123 and 85 cases, respectively, in 2019. It is inferred that the effects of scabies and head pediculosis in IDPs will be considerable, with a higher carriage rate than other studies in Iraq.

Background: Salmonellosis is one of the foodborne illness acquired by consumption of infected raw or undercooked eggs and causes major public health problem. The aim of this study was isolation and identification of Salmonella spp. from the eggshells and the egg contents samples.Methods: In this study, a total 350 eggs were randomly collected from five local stores in Duhok and Zakho city over a period of 6 months in summer of 2016. Eggs from each local store were collected and transferred to the microbiology laboratory. The conventional culture method used for detection of Salmonella spp.Results: Out of the 350 eggs, seventeen (4.85%) samples of eggshells contaminated with Salmonella spp. and none of the egg content samples were contaminated with Salmonella genus. Out of 17 positive eggs, three different Salmonella serotypes were identified including; Salmonella enteritidis (10 strains), Salmonella typhimurium (5 strains), Salmonella typhi (2 strains).Conclusions: The results of the present study provide the recent dataset of the prevalence of Salmonella spp. in eggs sold at local stores in the city. All isolates showed resistant to tetracycline, oxacillin and sulphadimethoxazole due to the indiscriminate use of these antibiotics in chicken at sub-therapeutic level or prophylactic doses which promotes selection of antimicrobial resistant strains and also increases the human health risks associated with consumption of contaminated quail eggs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in Zakho- Duhok city, investigating the occurrence of Salmonella spp. in eggshell and content egg sold at local stores.

Abstract:This research was conducted to recovery and enumerates the Froze injured bacteria isolated from different brands of ice cream sold in Zakho -Duhok markets. A total of 100 samples of ice creams with different flavors (plain, Mix chocolate and Mix fruit) were analyzed. All samples showed aerobic mesophilic bacteria count within the standard. The injured Coliforms bacteria were recovered and the count was exceeded the limits in four brands (Chyaw, Amca, Twin and Mufid) while no coliforms bacteria had been detected in other brands (Adlin, PAK and Bernard) which indicate post-treatment contamination from water, and unpasteurized milk. All brand ice cream show recovery of injured Staphylococcus aureus ranged from (10 MPN/g) to (220 MPN/g). The results indicate that the highest contamination was found in Mix chocolate of PAK brand (220 MPN /g), Mix chocolate of Domino brand (210 MPN/g), Mix fruit and Mix chocolate of Mufid brand (201 MPN/g and 200 MPN/g), which indicate the contamination of flavorings and ingredients during production. None of the samples from Adlin, PAK and Bernard brands showed the presence of injured Salmonella spp. while in contrast of Chyaw, Amca, Twin and Mufid brands which showed heavy contamination ranged from (7 MPN/g) to (250 MPN/g), the highest contamination was found in all types of Twin and Mufid brands followed by Amca brand, which indicate post process contamination or contaminated the tank with raw milk. Results show ice cream is unsuitable for consumed and the need of observing the hygienic quality of markets. The presence of injured pathogenic bacteria in commonly consumed food should be concerned with the consumer, company and government.

Introduction: Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease contributing to significant health and economic problems worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the seroprevalence and the associated risk factors of brucellosis among people admitted to Azadi general hospital, Duhok, Iraq. Patients and Methods: A total of 1283 patient blood samples (603 males and 680 females) were collected through the period of January 2017 to December 2017 from people at different age groups admitting Azadi general hospital, Duhok, Iraq. All collected sera were screened for the seroprevalence of Brucella using Rose Bengal plate test kit. Results: Among the 1283 blood samples, the overall seroprevalence of brucellosis was 17.8%. The highest rate was recorded in age group between 21–30 years(22.7%) and the different distribution of human brucellosis among age groups was statistically significant (p=0.0076). The frequency of brucellosis in females (20%) was significantly higher than males (15.3%) (p=026). The distribution of brucellosis according to the seasonal changes was statistically significant (p= 0.003) (25.64% in July and 9.75% in December). Conclusions: The incidence of the brucellosis is high, and it remains a challenging health problem. The age, gender, and seasonal changes are considered as important risk factors for the distribution of the diseases. Surveillance programs and active screening for brucellosis are essential to prevent, control, and to reduce the incidence of the brucellosis.

Klebsiella pneumoniae causes infection in human, especially in immunocompromised patients. About 80% of nosocomial infection caused by K. pneumoniae is due to multidrug-resistant strain. The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains necessitates the exploration of alternative antibacterial therapies, which led to studying the ability of viruses that infect the bacteria (known as bacteriophage) to treat infection with K. pneumoniae. Bacterial biofilm which are crucial in the pathogenesis of much clinically important infection and are difficult to eradicate because they exist resistant to many antimicrobial treatment. Biofilm formation by K. pneumoniae is responsible for the catheter associated infection such as urinary tract infection and respiratory tract infection due to the colonization of the polymeric surface by forming multilayered cell cluster embedded in extracellular materials. In this study K. pneumoniae isolated from the hospital environment and characterized it and form the biofilm of that organism by microplate quantitative assay. Similarly bacteriophage specific for K. pneumoniae isolated from river water. The aim of work is the use of bacteriophage as a possible alternative for the treatment of bacterial infection of K. pneumoniae. We showed that biofilm is reduced by isolated phages by the comparative account of colony-forming unit versus plaque-forming unit. The result of this study, therefore, suggests that the timing of starting the phage therapy after initiation of infection significantly contributes toward the success of the treatment.